


The Hunter

by kimjibyung



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - MAMA (EXO Music Video), Hunters & Hunting, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:11:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimjibyung/pseuds/kimjibyung
Summary: Kris Wu is a hunter of many things, from normal bounties, criminals, to supernatural beings. Anything that rewards a hefty prize, he's all game for. So when he gets an offer to retrieve something for a large amount of money, he barely blinks an eye as he sets out on the mission.But this mission doesn't blow over as easily. With comrades questioning the mission and with strange occurances that keep haunting him, can he really complete the mission and claim the prize money? Will this be his first failed mission all because of a beautiful water god?





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Love In The Ice](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/397956) by kimjibyung. 



> Warning: contains violence, blood, death, brief non-con, mpreg, and foul language.

The world of the supernatural was no secret to one of the best hunters alive, Kris Wu. Since the tender age of sixteen, the man has hunted, captured, and killed, depending on the job, many beings of the mystical world as well as the human part of it. As long as the money or rewards were worth the effort, he was more than willing to take care of the job.

So when the offer arose of retrieving a precious slave came up, he didn’t refuse. How could one refuse such a reward of more money than his entire life-savings? He didn’t even question the reason for the man’s offer, only wanted the details and what to expect. Armed with that, his team set out for the mission.

Suho, one of the many sons of the water god, Poseidon, was stolen away from his watery home by a wealthy captain that became enticed with the young god’s beauty. Kept under lock and key and used for the captain’s pleasures, the young god grew to fear all humankind and sought to regain his freedom. After years of torment from the captain, with a little help, he managed to escape, and fled back to the safety of his water temple where he fell into a healing coma of sleep under the water’s surface.

There, he remained undisturbed as his weary mind rested and his body was purified once again by the gentle caresses of the water’s touch. Protected and guarded, he slept.


	2. Chapter One

_ “Do you really think you can win against me, boy? A child that’s barely able to stand on his own?” The blow came from the right side this time, causing him to cry out in pain. It felt like his whole body was on fire, pain radiating and throbbing through his being. “Why would you be so foolish as to challenge the very God of the Underworld?” _

_ He couldn’t come up with an answer. It was foolish, he knew, but he wasn’t known for logic when it came to a prize at hand. And he wanted it. He wanted that prize. He could taste it, but with the more that his body took the oncoming assaults, the further away that taste was, it was slowly disappearing. All that remained was pain, hollowness, and a cruel laughter that filled his ears. _

_ “I gave you that hunger… I gave you that power… I gave you that desire… but your prize is not here, boy,” that wicked smile of Hades’ faded, faded away with the roaring of the flames surrounding both of them, the loud echoes of demons all around them.  _

_ He grew weaker by the second, eyes barely staying open, pain still awake throughout his body. “F-Father…” _

_ “Go back, I’ll spare you this once, but don’t let me see your face ever again, child. Your prize lies in the waves of peace. Go back.”  _

Kris startled awake from the haunting nightmare. One that still caused shivers down his spine, he rubbed a heavy hand down his face, before glancing at the alarm clock. It was four thirty in the morning. He groaned to himself and laid back down in his full sized bed, pulling the blankets back up to his chin. As he stared at the ceiling, he could feel that odd itch in the area between his shoulder blades again, something that had been a recurrence since that battle with Hades. 

He ignored it with a yawn, shaking the remnants of the dream away in favor of his meeting just a few hours from now on his next mission. The thought of the cash prize that was attached to it was all he thought about as he willed himself back to sleep. 

 

It wasn’t a rarity for the hunter to find himself in such a boring position. This was the first step towards the excitement, although the processing was boring, but once all the paperwork and big talk was out of the way, then it was the thrill of the hunt that left the blood pumping in his veins as adrenaline set his nerves on fire. But there he was, seated in the office of one of the fanciest mansions he’d ever stepped foot in, meeting an American man that had too much money to find enough ways to spend it, and getting the agreement set up for his services.

From what his partners dug up on the man and the request for their services, the American man by the name of Stephen Johnson, was simply asking for help with retrieving a slave boy that was stolen away from him. Normally, the hunters didn’t take cases like this because missions like these tend to lack the thrill. But when they were presented with the amount of the reward tacked on, they quickly changed their minds.

The leader of the group especially, Kris Wu.

“There’ve been many hunters that I’ve contacted about retrieving what had gotten away from me, and I’m sad to say that they have failed the mission. Most of them were killed or have never been seen or heard of again,” the elderly male explained, scratching a hand through his graying beard. The hunter across from him still seemed undisturbed by the statements, a pleasing sight to the older man. “That’s why I decided to turn to you, Mr. Wu, you seem to be able to hold your own bearings, and I trust that you can complete this mission and return my precious slave back to me.”

Kris shrugged, “If the money’s right then I can have it done.”

The older man grinned, “That’s what I like to hear.”

He snapped his fingers and the blonde haired servant that was standing behind him moved forward to pick up a silver briefcase that was beside the wooden desk, placing it upon the desk, and popping open the top. Inside, stacks of cash were piled, bands wrapped around with the amount of five thousand on each one of them.

“Half of this is yours right now if you accept the mission, and the other half will be given to you after the completion of your task of returning my precious slave to me,” the old man stated, taking in the sight of the gaping hunter seated across from him. He knew this was what would get the man to agree. He had his workers do extensive research into the hunter’s background, and he’d learned that money was the way to the man’s heart. “Two billion.”

Kris tore his eyes away from the briefcase, cleared his throat, and glanced at the man, “Get me all the information I need and I will have your slave back in your hands in little to no time.”

The old man chuckled, “I don’t mind if you take your time with this mission, Mr. Wu, I want accuracy and completion to come from it, and I’m afraid the location of the temple that my slave is located is a bit far for travel. I’ll allow you a month for completion, if you’re able to get him in less than a month then consider yourself in for a bonus.”

Kris grinned at that, “Less than three weeks then. I’ll wager that.”

Shrugging, the old man laughed, “I like the sound of that, but like I said, no rush. If you need the extra time, take it. I’d hate for you to fail on hasty decisions since you’re my best bet to retrieve him for me.” He snapped his fingers again and the servant produced a folder from the desk to hand over to Kris. “That’s all the information I’ve had gathered, along with all the hunters that have been killed or went missing while on the mission. You can dispose of those, unless you want to observe how some of them were killed and use it as an insight of what you’ll be facing.”

Kris nodded, then glanced at the briefcase of money, “Noted, so where’s the contract to sign for my portion of that cash right now?”

“You don’t waste any time, huh, boy?” The man smiled widely, sliding over the stack of paper that had been in front of him the whole time. “Right there on the bottom line, front page. I doubt you’ll even look through the terms of the contract.”

Kris laughed at that, “You’re right about that, as long as I’m getting paid and delivering your goods. I doubt you’ll try to screw me over, and if you’ve done enough research on me like you say then you know I’m good at my business.”

“That I do, and honestly, I would never screw up my best opportunity of getting my slave back. He’s very dear to me.”

Kris neatly signed his name on the bottom line, “What happened to him, if I may ask? Did he run away or get kidnapped? You said he was in a temple.” He spared the man a glance before sliding the paperwork back across the table.

Mr. Johnson ran his fingers back through his beard, not sensing any judgment from the hunter, and Kris honestly didn’t care enough about the situation to judge the man for having a slave in the modern world. “He escaped me, I assume he had help since I kept him so heavily guarded but one night, he disappeared and I have been trying to find him and get him back since. That was almost five years ago. I know where he is now, and that’s why I have been hiring hunters to find him ever since. He’s a child of Poseidon.”

That caught Kris’s attention. “As in the water god?”

The old man nodded, “The very water god in Greek mythology. Of course, the gods rarely ever visit earth anymore, or even care for the spawns they bred with earthlings.”

Kris heard a little about that, and he’d also done most of his readings on the Greek’s gods and goddesses, even having encountered a few of the offspring of the gods through his missions. This bit of information shocked but he assumed it was all in the folder of information he’d been given. That changed the whole playing field now, he’d assumed it was just a human slave, but now that he learned the slave was a child of Poseidon, he was even more eager to rise to the challenge. If only at a chance to take down a god or two.

“I look forward to the challenge then of retrieving him for you, Mr. Johnson.”

The man chuckled, “I figured you would, and given your area of expertise, I feel you’ll be the best candidate for the job. The supernatural is a bit of your specialty, isn’t it?”

Kris nodded, “It is.”

“Then I look forward to a satisfactory result.” Mr. Johnson stood up, Kris following suit, the older man stuck out his hand for a handshake. One that Kris eagerly shook. “Thank you for accepting, I’ll await your return.”

Kris grinned, “It’s a pleasure, and I’ll have your slave back in no time.”

With that, the hunter left with the folder of information and the briefcase of cash in hand. 

Mr. Johnson stared at the door of his office where the hunter just left, he hummed, “Do you suppose he’ll be successful?”

The servant cleared his throat, “I have a good feeling about this hunter. From the research we’ve done, there hasn’t been a battle yet that he’s lost.” 

“That sounds promising, I sincerely hope this will not be his first loss then. That boy of mine has been gone for far too long, and now that I’ve recently learned that he can stop this aging of mine… I need him back.” 

The servant spared him a weary glance, “Do you think that witch was telling you the truth though? You’ve had him for almost fifteen years, and it didn’t slow down your aging.” 

Mr. Johnson sighed, moving over to the large windows behind his desk to stare out at the morning sky, “I pray that she wasn’t lying, Byun, but if anything, at least I’ll have him back once more to fill my last days with.”

Turning towards the window as well to look out, the servant watched the clouds drift through the sky. He said nothing else before he walked back out of the room to retrieve the master’s breakfast. 

 

“The mission doesn’t seem that hard, honestly, looking at the papers the old fart provided you with,” Xiumin stated, tossing down the file on the table and propping his feet up on the table with his arms stretched out over his head, suppressing a yawn. 

Kris glanced at the papers and then looked down at the picture of the subject, the slave that’s wanted. He was beautiful. “I didn’t believe it was going to be a hard mission. I mean, it’s just a simple retrieve and deliver, it’s almost like stealing money from the old guy for this mission, but I’m not complaining.”

The blond haired man, Chen, glared at the two, “Aren’t you two wondering about the fact that the old pervert is looking for his  _ slave _ ?” The two shrugged. Chen glared at the picture of the old man, Stephen Johnson. He looked like the typical American, big eyes covered by circular glasses, straight nose, and full lips. “Judging from the looks of the guy, I doubt he was anything other than the old man’s plaything.” 

Kris shrugged again, “The money’s all I care about, Chen. If the old fart wants to pump up to entertain himself with the piece of ass, who am I to judge?”

“It’s just disgusting, and since the guy escaped him, I doubt he was willing for that stuff,” Chen retorted.

Kris sighed, Chen was always the more emotional one of the three, the one that tried to have morals, despite him being the best shot that Kris had ever came across. The blond man’s snipe skills were too impressive for Kris to have dumped him for his “heart of gold”. 

Xiumin glanced at the two before turning back to the picture of the slave on the desk, “We could always do the mission, get the money, and kill the old man, if you’re that bothered by it, Chen.”

Now that had Kris’s attention, “We don’t kill our employers, Xiumin.”

“He’s our employer  _ right now _ , but once the debt is paid and our services are done, he won’t be anymore.”

“You have a point…” Kris trailed off before rolling his eyes, “Plotting against our current employer isn’t what I called you guys here for anyway. We’re supposed to be coming up with strategies and learning about what we’re facing.” He shuffled through the paperwork, “It says some hunters have been burnt to death, some had been crushed by mysterious falling rocks, others have been driven insane, and then a few have just disappeared.” 

“Maybe the guy has some protectors now? Did any of the witnesses even claim to  _ see  _ the slave?” Chen questioned. “It said he was helped in his escape. Maybe those same people that helped him escape are still with him? Protecting him? Suppose they’re more children of Poseidon’s, brothers or sisters, perhaps?”

Kris shook his head, “Poseidon was a water god, that wouldn’t explain all those occurrences with the deaths. Burnt alive, crushed by rocks, some were even driven insane, and others disappearing… are the children of  _ other  _ gods even friends?” He joked, but it could’ve been the case. “Hell, with all the children born from Zeus fucking around, I wouldn’t be surprised that they could be brothers or sisters of the guy’s.”

“Maybe even sacked some of the ones that Poseidon had relations with,” Xiumin continued. “I figure we’ll have a little battle with whatever is protecting him, but it doesn’t say anything about anyone having actually seen the slave in temple. Not even from the records of people scoping out the area, the temple looked empty.” 

Kris glanced at the picture of the temple, a small stone structure that looked almost like something that came from Rome, the tall columns, the detailed roof, all of it was a solid white. Despite all the greenery and water surrounding it, it was like a shining beacon. Out of place. 

Even the pictures of zoomed up areas, there’s nothing inside the temple at all. An altar of sorts, but that was the only thing.

“Do you think there’s a passage that leads to an underground layer of the temple? Maybe the slave is hiding out in there?” Kris questioned. 

Chen and Xiumin looked skeptical. Neither one had a definite answer.

“I guess our best bet of finding out is to just set out for it, huh?” Xiumin smiled. “I’ll get the bags ready.”

Chen nodded, “I’ll get the transportation set up.”

Kris spared the two a look before grinning, “I’ll get a plan formed.”

The three set out to get everything ready for the beginning of the mission. The conversation about what to do with the slave, on what they would do with the employer as well, that would come later. 

 

_ Sobs filled the air, the stench in the room was still strong from the actions that were taken on the brown haired male that lied on the bed. Hands bound by the specially designed cuffs that led to the bedpost, if it weren't for those and the fact that they suppressed his powers, he'd be able to free himself. To escape this hell. But alas, the man that stole him away from his watery home had taken preparations to ensure he's kept bound to him. _

_ There was no escaping he believed. He couldn't remember how long it'd been since the man kidnapped him, he'd lost track after watching the sun come up and go down through the balcony windows of the room. He knew it had to be years, if only due to the fact that the man that kidnapped him wasn't as young looking anymore. _

_ Suho did not age, he wasn't human, but the man that kidnapped him was bound to human tendencies. Aging being one of them. His hair was slowly greying.  _

_ Upon hearing the door creaking open again, his sobbing cut short, fear lacing through him as he heard that old familiar whistling fill the room-- _

_ Everything faded to white in an instant. _

_ “Hyung? Hyung, I made you another flower crown,” the young man stated, hands extending to the brown haired male, an assortment of colorful flowers all strung together by a sturdy vine.  _

_ It was beautiful. _

_ Suho smiled softly at the younger, taking the flower crown, admiring it momentarily, before slipping it into his head. “Thank you, D.O, did you make this one by yourself?” _

_ The younger shook his head, “No, Lay-hyung helped me. You know I usually break the vines,” he glanced down at his fingers, “these hands of mine are sometimes too strong.” _

_ “Ah, please tell him thank you for me?” Suho turned back to the scenery across from him. _

_A crystal clear body of water, surrounded by the greenest grass he'd ever seen, patches of wildflowers here and there, and then just beyond the water was his temple. His sacred temple of rest and protection. He was safe here, surrounded_ _by the others that he called brothers now._

_ “Lay's here too,” D.O’s voice chirped up, causing Suho to look back at the younger before turning in the direction he was looking.  _

_ Everyone was there, seated around a small fire roasting some fish and something that smelled like sweet potatoes. Chanyeol, Luhan, Kai, Lay, and Tao.  _

_ “Let's go join them, yeah?” D.O’s hand slipped into Suho's, squeezing it softly, and tugging him along. “Tao saved the biggest sweet potato for you.” _

_ Suho smiled softly, following along.  _

 

Kris was snoring away in the seat of the plane while Chen and Xiumin discussed the possibilities of the things that lied ahead. While the island was easy to reach via air travel, the location of the temple was off any maps other than the one that the old man provided them with. They'd had missions like this before but it was usually to kill something or capture something evil. 

It irked Chen that they were actually on a mission to retrieve a  _ slave _ . But he knew that Kris wouldn't have refused the mission with that price tag stuck to it, it was the highest paying job that they'd ever encountered. Chen was even astounded by it, but it still didn't make his heart any less uneasy.

“Do you think Kris will go with Plan B after we've gotten paid?” Chen asked, setting down the folder of information in front of him on the food tray. Xiumin was staring out the window of the plane, probably going over ideas in his head about the mission.

He shrugged, “Probably, he may be a greedy bastard but he still tries to do the right thing.”

“If not, I might go solo with it, unless you'd like to help?” Xiumin threw him a smirk at that question. “I just don't feel right about this… it feels like something is telling me that it's wrong.”

“As opposed to all the missions we’ve done in the past?” Kris spoke up, startling the two, they didn't even notice when he stopped snoring. He yawned and stretched. “Honestly, Chen, if the guy escaped the old fart before, what makes you think he couldn't do it again? Besides that, Mr. Johnson looks like he's on the way to croaking anyway.”

Chen glared, “I had good reasons for taking out all the evil spirits and--”

Kris nodded, “I know, because of money and orders.” He shrugged. “This guy isn't any different from all our other missions, Chen. Just remind yourself of that fact and then think of the cash you'll be rolling in afterwards.”

Xiumin spoke up, “But Plan B? You in or out?”

Kris grinned, “With two billion in our hands, I wouldn't mind.”

“So we’re returning the guy to the old man, collecting the cash, and then killing him,” Chen stated. Now if only it could go over that smoothly, Chen thought. He figured it would, Kris was one hell of a strategist, he was also good at his job, Xiumin had the ability to back everything that happened to come their way, and Chen, he stayed in the shadows of the surroundings with his eyes and ears everywhere. 

“Sounds like it,” Xiumin piped up. 

Glancing down at his watch, Kris’s eyes widened, “Well, we’ve only got five more hours before we land, let’s get our game face on and worry about Plan B afterwards.”

 

_ The sudden wind coming in from the east caused Suho’s head to rise and look towards the direction. He was in the middle of eating his sweet potato, while the others were softly conversating. The breeze coming in was warm, almost a caress, but it left a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. It felt like something was coming, but he didn’t know what. _

_ Could it be that man again? There had been times like this before, but they all disappeared shortly after, and he knew it was due to the work of the ones gathered around the small fire. They were his protectors, they had the gifts to take care of any that dared to come after him.  _

_ He couldn’t stop himself from feeling frightened though, each time, he wondered if someone would find him and drag him back to that hell… _

_ “Suho?” Lay’s soft voice called for him, a hand finding his to grasp gently. _

_ He turned towards the yellowish blonde male, “Is someone here, Lay?” _

_ The younger shook his head with a smile, “No, no one’s here, only us still.” _

_ Suho looked back towards the east, “But something’s coming…” _

_ “They won’t get to you though,” Chanyeol’s deep voice spoke up, drawing Suho’s attention to the determined look on the red-haired male’s face. The reassurance in his eyes almost put Suho’s worry to ease, but the nerves in the pit of his stomach still caused doubt. “Trust us, they’re not going to get you.” _

_ D.O’s hand covered his and Lay’s, “Yeah, hyung, they won’t hurt you anymore, we promise.” _

_ Suho smiled at the younger, then nodded, “I know. Thank you, guys.”  _

_ Lay glanced around at the others before turning back to Suho, “We were talking though, Suho, if you want… Luhan and I have a way of helping you to forget those memories of that man… it could provide you with peace.”  _

_ Eyes widening at that, Suho almost dropped his sweet potato, “You can?” He looked back and forth between Lay and Luhan, the older smiling with a nod. “I won’t remember him at all?” _

_ Luhan shook his head, “Nope, Lay and I were discussing that maybe your constant worry about him finding you is putting your ability to heal off, even with Lay’s help, you’ve still got a long way to go… so if we can erase, or block your memories of him, maybe it could help with your healing as well?”  _

_ D.O glanced at the others nervously, before Tao took hold of his hand, squeezing it softly in reassurance. They all knew what the younger of the five was thinking. It was something that was discussed while they were talking about the idea.  _

_ Suho set down his sweet potato, hope filling his heart, the nerves in his stomach were finally settling, drawing away from the feeling of something coming to the comfort of what Lay and Luhan were proposing. He might have a chance of fully healing now… and the memory of that man couldn’t haunt him anymore. He wanted that peace. Yearned for it. _

_ “Okay.”  _

_ D.O’s shaky voice spoke up though, “B-But he’ll still remember me… right?” He looked at the others before turning his watery gaze towards Suho. “He’ll still be my… hy-hyung, right?”  _

_ Lay was about to reply until Suho pulled D.O to him, “I’d never forget you, D.O. Nothing could make me forget you.” _

_ “Of course not, I told you before that you’re not at fault in any of this at all, D.O,” Lay smiled sadly at the younger.  _

_ D.O bit his lip to keep himself composed as he returned Suho’s embrace, clutching onto him. “I-I know.”  _

_ Suho held onto him, his own eyes becoming tear-filled, “I won’t forget you, D.O.”  _

_ Slowly, the flowers from the crown that D.O and Lay made Suho began to creep down, covering parts of Suho’s head, decorating his face, leading down to his neck and on downwards towards parts of his body. Within seconds, he fell limp in D.O’s embrace, fast asleep. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be slow.


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I did warn for foul language, right? Cause Kris and Xiumin are potty-mouths.

**> > The Past**

**22 Years Ago**

Waves crashed back and forth against the yacht, the day was bright and clear, the sun beating down upon the roof of the cabin. On board was an elite family of three, a father, mother, and son. Servants scurried about them as they enjoyed the hot day, the son was busying himself with a fishing rod, the mother was sunbathing in one of her tiniest bathing suits, and the father was leaned over the railing, enjoying the view of the blue sea. 

Until something caught his eye in the water. The sight of naked flesh appeared and disappeared beneath the rippling of the waves, followed by fish of several different colors. He saw it again and again, until finally he called his son over to the railing to see. The person in the water stopped at the sudden attention, meeting the father’s gaze through the window of the water barrier. 

The son was amazed while the father was mesmerized, he’d never seen something so beautiful. The pale skin under the greenish blue waves, the sparkling dark eyes that seemed to glow from under the blanket of waves. 

He almost wanted to call out to the being when it started to swim away. Leaving his son at the railing, he moved back to the cabin of the yacht to tell the captain to pinpoint their exact location.

The rest of his days for the next year would be nothing but searching the entire area for the person until he’d finally captured them.

“You spend all your damn time at that spot on the ocean, don’t think the captain didn’t tell me about it, not to mention the talk I hear from all the staff that my husband has grown crazy with this bizarre fascination of yours,” the woman glared at her husband. 

He glared back, “And you spend all your time at the shops, blowing all of my money, and yet you don’t hear me calling you out on it. What I want to do in my own time is my business.” 

She cursed, “What about the ocean has you so fascinated that you have to spend every waking moment there? Are you cheating on me?”

He rolled his eyes, “It’s none of your concern anyway if I were, you’re only here for the money. If that’s not enough for you, then you and Samuel can pack your bags and leave.”

The woman gawked at him in shock, “You'd kick out your own wife and child over some insane fascination with the ocean?”

He chuckled before walking over to the bedroom door of their room and opened it, an eyebrow cocked with a humorless smile, “The door's open if you don't want to stick around.”

“You bastard,” she glared, “I hope you rot in hell.”

Those were the final words she spoke to him before storming out of the bedroom. The divorce papers arrived in the mail in only a few days. Her bags had been packed by the servants and their son was sent off to a boarding school while the courts went down.

But while his marriage was falling apart, his luck at his catch was increasing. Having resorted to hiring his own fishing crew to search for the being, he'd also researched the area and waters and found that the being was a god.

Due to the calm waves and the little storms that they faced in that area, he believed it was one of the god’s children. Not as powerful as the father, Poseidon, but still worthy of fright. From the glimpses he caught though, the one thing he was sure of was that the creature was beautiful.

And he wanted it.

Two weeks after the divorce was finalized, the net caught something. Something that was far bigger than the sharks or large fish that they had been catching. 

When the fishers pulled the net up, there was the typical struggling, but it was more fierce. The winds of the sea started to pick up, and dark clouds began brewing overhead.

Just as they pulled the net onto the ship and the naked being fell on board, a loud clap of thunder sounded. 

The man ran out of the cabin of the ship to lay eyes on the being. It was male, but it was more beautiful than any man or woman he'd ever seen. Once the god started struggling against the net’s bindings, the man signaled to one of his servants.

A shot was heard through the air, a dart pierced the being’s neck, a powerful tranquilizer. The fading sound of a cry and the thundering overheard was all that remained once the being collapsed. The dark clouds quickly fading, the winds calming once more, and the sea seemed peaceful again. 

“Finally, I've caught you.”

He oversaw his servants bidding the being’s hands and feet after removing the net.

“You know you'll have to find a way to keep him from using his powers once he wakes, right?” The captain of the ship retorted, watching the scene as well.

The man grinned, “Seriously, Charles, you act as if I don't know what I just caught or what I've been looking for for the past year.” He went back into the cabin and brought out a silver band, almost like a necklace. “I've done my research, he won't have any powers with this around his neck.”

“It's specially designed?”

“Suppresses all his abilities and weakens him, I made it myself,” the man stated proudly, handing the silver item off to one of the servants to let them slip it around the being's neck. “Take him to my quarters, chain him.”

He grinned to himself as he watched the servants carry the water god away. Who knew that with the failing of his marriage, he'd have such luck when it finally came to the one thing that had consumed most of his life. 

He watched the servants put away the nets and dump the other fish that was caught with the god, “We can head home now, Charles. My mission is over.”

“And my payment?”

He grinned, “It'll be waiting for you when we reach shore.”

It would be a day's journey amongst the sea before they'd reach shore, so he simply retired to his quarters to admire his capture. Chained up in the corner of his room was the god, still unconscious from the tranquilizer. 

He simply sat down on his bed and admired the beauty for now. The pale skin that looked to have almost a greenish or aqua tint to it, the long brown hair that he would definitely be cutting away, the pale pink lips, the nose, and the overall shape of the god was perfection. He was right all along, _absolutely_ _beautiful_.

And the things that would come soon as they reached home.

  
  


**Present Day**

 

“Fucking jungle is pissing me off,” Kris growled, swatting at the bugs that kept flying around them. 

Xiumin snorted a laugh while swatting at the buzzing annoyances as well, “Maybe we should've packed some bug spray along with the ammo.”

Kris glared at the amused face of Xiumin before turning his attention towards Chen with his face buried in the maps. “Are we at least close to the temple?”

“From the distance from the little village we came across after landing, I believe we're about five miles from it.”

Kris rolled his eyes while stepping over more overgrown vines and brush, sighing, “I guess we'll have to sleep with these fucking bugs tonight.” He glanced up at the skies through the trees overhead. “But at least we'll be rolling in dough after all this.”

Xiumin agreed with that. “That’s all I'm thinking about. I could retire with all that cash.”

Kris threw him a smirk, “You're ready to give all this up?”

“ _ This _ ?” Xiumin cocked an eyebrow, motioning towards their surroundings while swatting at another mosquito, “Hell yes. You can call me out of retirement when you get a job that isn't in the middle of a jungle.”

Chen laughed, “Xiumin, I think you are ready for a little retirement, and you too, Kris, if you can't handle a little nature.”

The two glared at his smiling face, Kris spouted, “Yeah, okay, nature boy, you doing something we aren't to save your ass from these bugs?”

Chen opened his mouth to reply but a quick slap across the cheek from Xiumin shut his mouth.

“Sorry, you had a bug there,” Xiumin grinned, showcasing the tiny squashed bug on the palm of his hand, then turned to Kris, “Nope, nothing special for him, he's getting bitten just like us.”

Kris chuckled while Chen muttered a few curses under his breath, “Let's get going, there's money to claim.”

 

**> > The Past**

**22 Years Ago**

When the being awoke, he was startled by his surroundings. This wasn't his watery home at the bottom of the sea, he wasn't even anywhere near his home, he could sense it in his soul. And… he felt so weak. He wasn't sure why, but he was weakened and his head pounded like he'd hit it on something hard.

Once he tried to move and found that he couldn’t from his seat on the floor, he cried out to find his hands chained up to the wall behind him, his ankles chained together. 

He cried out for help. His surroundings were nothing he’d seen before, strange objects here and there, all different shades of colors. His cries must’ve alerted someone because the golden knob on the door to the bedroom opened and in came a white male with dark brown hair and the grayish blue eyes that he’d ever seen. An odd sound filled the room upon  the man's entrance, a high-pitch whistling, almost harmonious. The man dressed in garments so dark and sleek, it made the being look down at his own self to find that he was still naked. 

While that wasn’t a concern in the ocean, it was something that he felt unsure here, especially in this man’s presence with the way that the man was staring at him as he edged closer. 

The being pulled his legs up to him, cowering, scared of the man that didn’t seem to notice the fear that should’ve been radiating off of the creature. “Pl-please, don’t hurt me…” He whimpered when the man crouched down in front of him, that predatory look was still evident in the man’s eyes, he couldn’t help but flinch when a hand cupped the side of his face.

“You truly are a beauty. Even in the mists of hysteria and you’re still stunning,” the man murmur, almost as if talking to himself.

Shivers of fear shook the being’s body when that hand caressed his cheek before stroking down to his neck, collarbone, his chest where it lingered around the dark bud of his nipple before a finger ran down his side, coming to rest on his hip. The being was one of the ocean, his body temperature wasn’t like this man’s, it wasn’t human, he was cold, his skin cool to the touch, so the man’s warm hand felt like a small flame licking it’s way down the trail of his touch. It was almost too warm for the being’s liking, and the way it grabbed hold to his hip bone felt like it was on the verge of burning.

It was beginning to hurt. 

The man’s next statement caused the being’s eyes to widen in fear, “You’re the water god’s child, am I right?” 

There had been others that had hunt the creature down for years, decades, centuries, but never succeeded in catching him. This man, however, was persistent. He was the first person that had managed to catch the water god. 

The creature didn’t say anything in response, only stared at the man in fear. But it didn’t deter the human at all, he simply smirked, “I figure you are. Poseidon’s child, right? Or one of his many, I wonder if there’s others out there like you. Perhaps your brothers or sisters… I would’ve rather found a sister of yours. But your face and body is enough to rid my disappointment.” 

The creature still didn’t respond to anything. Fear still radiating from his very core. 

“I heard about you from many talk around that small harbor village, they say you guard that area, I heard some call you Bohoja and others call you Suho… so what do you call yourself?” The man asked, curious eyes watched the creature as he waited for an answer. 

Only nothing came. Only the same shivering and fear pouring from those crystal blue eyes. The being’s eyes looked like a clear ocean sparkling under the sunlight. 

The human sighed after a moment, “Well, if you don’t give me an answer, I’ll settle with calling you Suho. Bohoja is too much of a mouthful for me. My name is Stephen, but I'm going to be your master from now on, understand?”

The being trembled against the man’s hold on his hip, he feared the worst when the human pressed closer to him. His face coming to rest against the side of the being’s neck, a press of lips to the skin just below his ear had the being’s heartbeat hammering against his chest. He could sense the man’s intentions, he could see it in the man’s eyes when he looked at him. And he feared the worst when those hands grabbed him in a strong grasp, burning him with that hot touch against his cold skin.

He whimpered and cried for the man to let him go.

  
  


**The Present**

“Are you still having those weird dreams about Hades?” Chen asked as they sat around the small fire. Xiumin was roasting a wild rabbit as the other were already eating on theirs.

Kris swallowed his mouthful and wiped at his lips, “It's not that bothering now, ever since our last mission, they've been kind of fading.”

Xiumin snorted a laugh, “I think Chen was asking if we should be prepared to wake up to your squealing throughout the night.”

Chen glared at him, “No,” he turned to Kris, “I'm asking if your head will be clear for the mission.”

Kris gave him a look, “That wasn't the reason for my stalling on that mission, okay?”

“You sure?” Xiumin questioned, jokes aside. “Whatever that creature did to you, it literally had you frozen.”

“Yeah, you were lucky that I had a good enough shot from one of the buildings to kill the thing,” Chen stated. “Do you remember anything at all of what happened during that moment?”

Kris did, but he hadn't told either of them before. It was what haunted his dreams to this day, although now wasn’t as bad as before, but it still kept him from a decent night's sleep. He wondered what the mystery was around it.

They were stationed with a mission to kill one of Hades's children. One that was terrorizing the small town, killing people, hurting others, just reeking havoc on everything. They had to stop him.

But the moment that the being and Kris locked gazes, that was it for Kris. He had frozen still in that moment, completely paralyzed.

It was like a trance of sorts but in the place of the child of Hades, it was Hades himself. His pitch black hair cascaded towards the floor, his eyes black as coal, gleaming with a slight fiery tint to them. A stark comparison to the pale as paper skin of the god.

Everything else around them faded away, dissolved into darkness. That was when Kris's battle started.

_ He took a shot at the god of the underworld but it went right through the being, almost as if Hades were nothing more than a vapor. He tried to dodge the blow coming at him but was a second too late and took a right hook to his side. He stumbled but held his bearings, up close, he tried using the butt of the assault rifle to strike, but again, it went right through the being. _

_ “Fuck, what are you?” He cursed, before receiving another blow. One that knocked him to the ground. _

_ The god smirked, “I'm the God of the Underworld, son. You can't possibly hope to defeat me.” Another blow came crashing down, almost crushing Kris to the ground.  _

_ Kris cried out in pain, when the weight disappeared, he tried to pick himself up only to receive a kick to his stomach that sent him flying towards a wall. He couldn't keep up anything, it was all happening too fast until finally everything came to terrifying pause when a pale hand enclosed around his neck, pinning against the wall.  _

_ When he opened his eyes, Hades was standing there, face to face. The cruel glint the god’s eyes, the smirk on those lips, it made Kris tremble with anger. He felt weak, he was in pain from the blows he took, yes, but he felt anger. He wanted to destroy this being. _

_ “There’s a hunger in your soul, child, something calls to you, but you haven’t found what will quench your thirst...” the god spoke, and those black gleaming eyes bore into his. It felt like everything was in him was being exposed to the god. He could see it all. “I’d know one of my own anywhere, especially you.” _

_ Kris struggled against the hold on his neck, sucking in bits of air. The hand gripped harder until it finally flung him to the ground. A strike against his back had him howling in pain, it felt like flames were searing at his very flesh, and it left a deep, bone ache in his back. _

_ “Fuck!” He cried out, he tried to get to his feet, tried to find his weapon, but he didn’t get far. _

_ “Do you really think you can win against me, boy? A child that’s barely able to stand on his own?” The blow came from the right side this time, causing him to cry out in more pain. How was he even still conscious? It felt like his whole body was on fire, pain radiating and throbbing through his being. “Why would you be so foolish as to challenge the very God of the Underworld?” _

_ He couldn’t come up with an answer. It was foolish, he knew, but he wasn’t known for logic when it came to a prize at hand. And he wanted it. He wanted that prize. He could taste it, but with the more that his body took the oncoming assaults, the further away that taste was, it was slowly disappearing. All that remained was pain, hollowness, and a cruel laughter that filled his ears. _

_ “I gave you that hunger… I gave you that power… I gave you that desire… but your prize is not here, boy,” that wicked smile of Hades’ faded, faded away with the roaring of the flames surrounding both of them, the loud echoes of demons all around them. _

_ He grew weaker by the second, eyes barely staying open, pain still awake throughout his body. “F-Father…” _

_ “Go back, I’ll spare you this once, but don’t let me see your face ever again, child. Your prize lies in the waves of peace. Go back.” _

The last bits were the pieces that still haunted him. Plagued his nightmares. 

“Whatever happened to me won’t interfere with this mission, I promise,” Kris stated, looking at both of them. “It was just some kind of mindgame that the fucker pulled in that fight, nothing else.”

Chen and Xiumin glanced at each other before Xiumin turned back to Kris, “What kind of mindgame? It’s not like the fucker we fought was some kind of witch or could do that kind of voodoo.”

Kris shrugged, “Well either way, the fucker  _ did _ .” He reached back and rubbed at his shoulder blades, it was starting to have that odd itch again. Like something under his skin. “I’ll tell you guys about it whenever I can get my head wrapped around it. But I swear to you that it won’t affect the mission. You know how I am when it comes to my money.”

Xiumin brushed it off, satisfied with that answer and the truth behind the statement, while Chen, despite still being concerned, accepted the response. Taking his rabbit from the fire, the three of them ate in silence for the remainder of the night before finding a patch of ground or a tree to retire for the night. Kris glanced up at the sky and stared at the half moon for a moment until he finally closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. Nothing should plague his dreams, his mindset was different now, he was on a mission, his head was in the game.

 

_ Everything was so quiet now, there were no sounds terrorizing his head, no voices could be heard, no whistling that made his skin crawl, nothing. It was peaceful. Relaxing. _

_ He opened his eyes and looked up at the clear blue sky, the soft colored sun that shone overhead. It brought a smile to his lips as he closed his eyes once more, embracing the waves that washed over him, almost a gentle caress against his skin. _

_ He couldn't even conjure up any thoughts, each one a glimpse before fading away. _

_ But all of a sudden, there was a dark shadow creeping over, clouding the sun rays that he could still see even behind closed eyes. His eyes opened and he caught the glimpse of a black wing. Almost like a bat’s wing, it didn’t have feathers, it looked wicked. Scary. _

_ He reached up to shield himself before the creature disappeared.  _

 

Kris woke up with a jolt. He looked around to see that it was still dark, the other two were still snoozing away. Looking around the surroundings, he saw nothing. That familiar itch started up between his shoulder blades again, and it felt like it was getting worse. He cursed to himself before settling back down where he was propped up by an old log. 

He nudged his back against the log to try and relieve the itch in his shoulder blades, but it hardly stopped it at all. 

“Head in the game,” he scolded himself, murmuring softly. But he still wondered about the crystal clear waves he saw in his dream and why it felt like he was floating above them in midair. 


	4. Chapter Three

“There’s someone coming,” the fire bearer, Chanyeol, stated, glancing over at the rest of the group. They were inside the temple, each looking out over their side of the temple that they protected. “I can feel their unwoken energies getting closer.”

Lay glanced at the surface of the pool of water that lied beyond his side of the temple. “I can feel it too. They’re strong.”

D.O glanced between them, worry etched over his features. “Do… do you think their intentions are cruel?”

The others glanced at each other, before turning to Luhan. The one that could tap into anyone’s mind and see their thoughts. The dark blonde pursued his lips, “They’re powered by greed… but they’re not wholly evil. Their weapons will be a setback for us, but they won’t kill us.”

“Will they get hyung? Will they take him?” D.O asked, his nerves were jittery now. His heart in his throat at the thought of someone taking Suho from him, capturing him again.

Tao spoke up at that, his eyes glazed over in a milky cloud of white as he tried tapping into the future events. “There’s a block on it… I can’t see what happens.” He shook his head, his eyes returning back to the dark shade of brown. “There’s something that’s stopping me from looking into the future of Suho’s, and even yours, D.O.”

At the sharp and shuddering intake of breath from younger male, Lay quickly moved to D.O’s side, holding him close, “Nothing’s going to happen to you, D.O, and nothing will happen to Suho. We’re here to protect both of you, they won’t get past us.”

Chanyeol glanced back out over the hillside that he guarded, “We’ll make sure of it, don’t worry.”

Luhan and Lay shared a glance, one that remained unspoken between them, before their gazes lowered to D.O’s cowering form clinging to Lay.

 _“It’s that man again.”_ Luhan’s voice echoed inside of Lay’s head. _“He’s trying to get to Suho again.”_

Lay brushed a hand over D.O’s stubby hair, sighing deeply as he started to lend some of his calming energy to the younger to ease his worrying. _“Do you think he knows about him? Did he send for D.O as well?”_

Luhan looked over at Tao, the taller shook his head before turning his gaze out to the watery surface of the pool. _“No, he knows nothing about D.O.”_

_“That’s good. It’s best to keep it that way.”_

D.O looked up at Lay, eyes watering, “Do you think it’s him again, Lay? Is he trying to take hyung back?”

Lay sighed softly, “It probably is, but don’t you worry about anything, D.O, he won’t hurt your hyung ever again.”

 

The three were edging closer to a clearing, and shining like a beacon on the horizon was the white temple. Surrounded by a large pool of water on almost all sides. They stopped at the edge of the woodlines.

Kris and Xiumin were loading up their guns with the silver bullets, one thing that, while facing most supernatural beings, usually worked when it came to taking down anything. It could even prove to work against demigods, they’d find out, and if it didn’t, well, they had an array of ammunition to switch to, in smaller weapons, but still could prove to be effective.

Chen was scoping out the best tree to seat himself in with the perfect view of the temple. From there, he’d be their eyes in the sky. He checked the surroundings of the temple and the place looked exactly like the pictures had portrayed. The temple looked empty. Nothing inside of it at all, so he wondered where exactly the slave could be. Unless like they stated before, there could be a secret compartment inside the temple?

He raised his rifle up to aim towards it, using the scope for a closer view, and still met the sight of an empty temple. The tiny atlar could be seen now, but other than that, nothing at all.

Kris finished setting his earpiece and called for him over the speaker, “Chen? You copy?”

Chen glanced over at the taller, adjusting the volume on his own earpiece, _“Loud and clear.”_ He walked back over to the two, _“I really hope you two find that compartment or some secret entryway to an underground area of the temple because it’s exactly like the pictures shown. Nothing but a little atlar inside it.”_

Xiumin and Kris glanced at each other, “We’ll check all around it then too if there’s nothing inside.”

The two cocked their weapons, while Chen headed towards the tree he’d found, and started climbing up to a decent height. As soon as he was settled into place and did an extra scope around the whole area, he gave them the clearance for advancement.

Xiumin started towards the backside, going around the large pools of water, towards the back of the temple, while Kris advanced from the front. All the while, the two were keeping in check with their surroundings. Chen was a last resort when it came to any kind of firepower, he was their eyes and ears and the director for whenever they needed to fire, but other than that, he was to remain in the shadows.

 _“So far, there’s no movements at all, guys,”_ Chen’s voice came across the earpieces.

Kris glanced over the surface of the pools of water before turning his attention to the white stone path leading up to the steps of the temple. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

“I get that feeling too, Kris,” Xiumin stated back. “It feels like we're being watched and not by our friendly eyes in the sky.”

Kris glanced up at the temple, as he started towards the entrance, “Same here.”

He could still see Xiumin from his standpoint, and slowed his walk down until Xiumin had edged closer to the temple from the backside. It was still as Chen stated, empty inside. Nothing other than a small white altar, but one thing about the temple was the fact that there was no dirt or any debris from the natural surroundings. The temple looked spotless.

Even the steps that he moved closer to were pristine.

Just as he set one foot onto the bottom step, Xiumin’s voice called loud and clear, “Heads up, Kris.”

Inside the temple, appearing out of thin air were four men cloaked in solid white robes. A red haired one, two blondes, and one black haired. Kris raised his gun, and cocked it, just in case. It didn’t look like any of them were going to be approachable. And if anything, they were probably the ones behind all the deaths of the other hunters before Kris’s group.

But none of them seemed to have a weapon of their own up their sleeve.

The two blondes turned towards the backside of the temple, obviously spotting Xiumin.

“Be gone from this place, or meet your doom,” the shorter blonde stated, glancing back and forth between Xiumin and Kris.

A shot rang out in the air, and the splattering of blood and brain matter followed the body dropping to the floor. Xiumin’s gun now aimed at the other blonde while Kris took a shot at the black haired man when he saw the guy start to shimmy away, sending another body to the floor of the temple.

Just as a ball of fire started to form in the red haired male’s hand, two more shots were heard.

“Well shit, that was easy,” Xiumin’s voice echoed over the earpieces. “A little too easy.”

“My words exactly,” Kris replied. “You don't see anything else, our eyes in the sky?”

Chen hummed, _“Nothing at all.”_ He scoped over every direction, looking for any small indications that anything was still out there. _“Nothing.”_

Until suddenly a sob rang out in the air, a figure slowly appearing out of thin air in the temple as the person, a young, teenage-looking boy, went running to one of the fallen bodies. Sobs filling the temple. Xiumin started to take aim again until Kris quickly halted him.

“He's a kid, Xiumin. Stand down.” Kris started walking up the steps to the temple. Getting to the second to the last step before the boy turned to him, eyes red and watery, lips trembling from his crying.

“Pl-Please… don’t take him. Don’t take my hyung,” the boy cried, standing up to move towards Kris. His body trembling with the ache of sorrow. “Y-You came for my hyung… please… please don’t take him.” It looked almost as if the kid were coming to kneel, to bow, to beg Kris on his knees.

Kris and Xiumin could only guess that this kid’s hyung must’ve been the water god’s child, the slave they were sent to retrieve. Although judging from the looks of the inside of the temple, it was obvious that the slave wasn’t there, or was cloaked by whatever force had hidden the bodies bleeding out and this kid.

But what struck Kris hard was the sobbing and pitiful face of this kid. His round eyes, nose, and lips reminded him of someone he’d met before but couldn’t put a name on who it was. Kris had a weakness for children, even when the group had first decided to start their path as hunters, they vowed not to hurt a child. Even one of a supernatural origin. And the way this kid was sobbing, eyes wet and red, nose running, lips trembling, it was starting to make Kris’s heart ache.

He sighed, sparing Xiumin a glance, “Look, kid, we’re-”

The loud echoing of a gun rang out in the air cut Kris off. He couldn't even register what was happening when he heard the kid cry out in shock and pain, he only reacted to catching the falling kid from landing on the floor of the temple. Soaking the back of the kid’s white gown was blood from the shot. He looked towards Xiumin and saw that the man hadn’t raised his gun at all from when he’d lowered it moments ago, so it wasn’t him… so that left only--

“The fuck, Chen?!” Xiumin and Kris yelled.

 _“What the fuck, guys? It wasn’t me, take cover, I think we got company!”_ Chen’s voice shouted over the earpiece.

More shots followed as Xiumin took cover behind one of the pillars of the temple while Kris carried the kid down the steps to hide behind the temple, crouching down behind the stone to take cover. Xiumin quickly glanced around in every area surrounding them to look for where the shots were coming from while Kris was busy trying to get the wound to stop bleeding.

The kid was trembling, gasping, and coughing up blood. His skin was slowly growing pale, probably from shock, and Kris feared the worst for the kid as he looked over the area of the wound. It had obviously pierced a lung.

 _“Xiumin, your north, at two o’clock,”_ Chen’s voice directed once he’d finally spotted the location where the shots were coming from. Xiumin wasted no time in firing in the direction. It was the other shaded area of trees and large unruly shrubbs.

“Guys, I don’t think this kid’s going to make it,” Kris called back, cursing when he pulled the cloth away from the wound to see more blood pouring out.

Chen cursed, _“Do what you can until we can get whoever the fuck is hiding in the trees, I’ll see what I can do.”_

“Got it,” Kris turned his attention back to the kid, trying to coax him the best he could, “Hang in there, kid. I've got a partner that'll take care of this…” _hopefully_ , he added mentally.

The kid grasped hold of his hand, gasping out, “La-Lay… call… call Lay…”

Well that had Kris confused. Who the hell was this Lay? “Lay? Who’s this Lay? Another guardian?”

“L-Lay… h-heals…”

Xiumin finally hits one of the shooters hiding in the shaded area of the forest, watching them fall to the ground before taking cover again as more shots hit the pillar that he was hiding behind. Just as he took a deep breath, he saw someone else materialize out of thin air inside the temple, a darker blonde than the others, his skin looked almost white as the robe he was wearing. Xiumin raised his weapon just in case the person, he assumed was another guardian, decided to attack him but the guy simply spared him a glance before heading towards the area where Kris and the kid were.

 _“Kris, heads up, you’ve got another guardian coming your way,”_ Xiumin called over the earpiece. _“Maybe it’s that guy, Lay?”_

Kris looked up just as the guardian was descending the steps to come over to him and the kid, he was going to grab his pistol just in case but the hold that the kid had on his hand and his other hand holding the cloth pressed to the wound prevented him. What had Kris almost freezing up was the fact that the bullets coming through the air towards the guardian went right through the male. Almost like he was transparent.

“You’re Lay?” Kris questioned as soon as the guardian kneeled down beside him to start checking the kid’s wound.

The guardian looked over at him with a small smile, “I am. I’ll take care of him now. Go help your friend.”

Xiumin and Chen overheard the guardian through the earpiece. Xiumin scoffed, _“Like hell, keep your eyes on those two, I’ve got this.”_

“I’ll stay...” Kris mumbled off, watching as a faint glow started coming from Lay’s hand covering over the bloody wound. Within seconds, the bullet was drawn out and the skin over the wound was like new again.

Other than the dark red staining the robe around the wound and the cold sweat that was still on the kid’s face, it didn’t even look like the kid had gotten shot at all. Kris let out a deep breath of relief when the kid’s color to his face returned, his breathing calming, and he looked fine now.

 _“The kid’s okay now, Kris?”_ Chen called before taking a shot at the figure he'd spotted.

“He's good, fully healed,” Kris spared a glance at the healer. Despite being grateful for the male’s ability and the fact that the kid was saved now, they still had a mission to complete. He could hear the shots of both sides dying down, Xiumin wasn't firing anymore and Chen seemed to have knocked off the last one that he'd seen. “Are we clear?”

“I'm going to check,” Xiumin stated, scoping out the area from his spot behind the pillar, “You got me covered, Chen?”

_“Always. Be careful.”_

“I've got these two with me for now,” Kris called back. He glanced at the two. It looked as if the healer was waiting for his demands. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the blonde was already cutting him off.

“The temple is empty. He's not here,” Lay pulled the kid to him, holding him as if Kris were going to hurt him at the statement.

The kid looked back and forth between them, fear filling his eyes again.

Kris smirked, “I'm pretty sure you're lying to me, _Lay_. After the kid's already begged me not to take him. He's got to be here somewhere, probably cloaked by whatever force you all were using to hide with.”

The younger spoke up again, “Please don’t take him. Don’t take my hyung away.” And there were those big eyes staring at him again, pleading.

It shouldn’t have caused Kris to falter because he’d had several missions before with people crying and pleading and begging him, but he still had a job to do. This wasn’t any different from those missions, sure, it was a rare job they took on, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But still, the kid’s eyes did something to him to cause him pause.

He forced himself to turn his attention back to the blonde, and staring at those dark eyes, he didn’t hesitate, “Where is he?”

The guardian, Lay, remained silent, clutching tighter to the kid. Until finally Kris exhaled deeply, and swiftly pulled out his pistol, aiming it right at the guardian’s temple. “I saw earlier that the bullets were going right through you,” he saw the way that the guardian had not flinched at all, “not sure what makes you different from the ones we shot in the temple, but the bullets in this gun are specially designed for beings such as yourself. Now tell me, where is the water god?”

Before the guardian could say anything, the kid spoke up again, voice trembling, his hands almost reaching out to Kris, “Please, sir, please, don’t take him. He’s healing, please, let him sleep.”

Kris was about to respond when Xiumin’s voice came over the earpiece, _“Our surprise visitors were American. Did that old fart say anything about hiring someone else to try and get the water god too?”_

“American?” Kris questioned, he spared the guardian another glance before standing up to look towards Xiumin’s direction. “Any of them still have any life left in them?”

_“Out of the five we shot, there’s one that’s still breathing… barely.”_

“I’m on the way over,” Kris replied before turning back to the two, motioning with the gun towards the direction of Xiumin, “Let’s go.”

The kid looked up at Lay in question before standing up, the guardian following after as Kris directed them to walk in front of him. “You can be thinking of an answer to my question on the way over, _Lay_.”

Walking back down the stone path that led away from the temple, Kris watched the guardian from behind for any signs or indications of any special areas of the surroundings. Although when the guardian glanced at one of the pools of water along the path, Kris realized why the temple was empty when they entered. Upon looking over the surface of the water, he saw something down below that almost had him stopping. Despite the pale green color of the water, he could still see something dark below the surface, deep down below the surface.

The kid didn’t let anything on as if he knew where the water god’s location was, but the guardian’s small glance was more than enough for Kris to come to the conclusion of the possible whereabouts of the water god.

 

 _“Luhan, are the others okay?”_ Lay asked mentally.

_“Wounded but nothing that you or I can’t fix. Since you’re still in your phasing, I can borrow your healing to take care of them. But D.O… he’s physically there.”_

Lay sighed, glancing at the younger, _“I know. I wanted to hold him back, but you know how emotionally driven he is. At least the hunter didn’t leave him to die.”_

 _“He’s got a soft spot for children,”_ Luhan stated. _“I can sense that from him. The others too. They’re not as bad as they seem.”_

_“The others that were attacking… the Americans as the hunter stated, they’re sent from that monster, aren’t they?”_

Luhan sighed tiredly, _“One of them is the man’s human child, he’s not amongst the ones that are dead though. He fled back, along with the remainders of his group.”_

The information almost had Lay stumbling. That man’s child was here? Trying to get to Suho? He wondered why… unless it was the same reason his father kept trying to find him. _“Should… should I let_ them _know Suho’s whereabouts?”_ Referring to the hunter following them and his group.

Luhan was quiet for a moment. Lay assumed he was prying into the hunter’s thoughts that was following them. _“Let them. Their intentions are a lot better than the man’s child. Like I said before, they’re powered by greed, but they’re not wholly evil, not like that man and his family apparently.”_

_“Alright, should I fully materialize? D.O’s going to need protection.”_

Luhan hummed, _“Nightfall, you can. It may take a little time to use your ability to heal the others.”_

_“Okay.”_

 

When Kris reached Xiumin, he could already see that the man was slowly bleeding to the death on the ground. He suffered from a gut shot and one to his lower chest area. Despite there being a healer in their presences now, Kris wouldn’t be demanding for this life to be spared.

The man was breathing hard, gasping, and coughing out blood, much like the kid was doing moments ago. Kris looked at Xiumin before turning back to the American man. “Who are you? Did Stephen Johnson send your group to retrieve the water god too?”

A slightly smirk barely made it across the man’s lips before he started coughing again, trying to catch his breath while more blood trailed down the corners of his lips, “I-I don’t work for... the old man…” he rasped out through wheezes. “Hi-His son… i-is my... boss.” The small gasp from the kid didn’t go unnoticed by Kris or Xiumin, but they paid no mind to it.

The old fart’s son was after the water god now? Kris wanted to groan in annoyance but instead, he remarked with what he found odd. “You’re not really that tight-lipped, are you? He must not have paid for your ability to keep a secret.”

Managing a small shrug, the man coughed, “I’m dying… what do I… care?”

Kris shrugged, “Point taken,” he looked over at the kid, “Close your eyes, kid.”  Swiftly, he pointed his pistol at the man and shot him. He sighed to himself, throwing a glance at Xiumin, “His son has people looking for the water god too?”

Xiumin looked between the kid and the healer before turning back to Kris, “Maybe it’s a family thing?”

“Family thing or not, we’re getting the water god first,” Kris replied. “We’re not losing that billion due to some family feud. I could care less about it.”

“But we don’t even know if the water god is actually here, the temple’s empty,” Xiumin stated, looking over at the healer and the kid to see them averting their gazes. He looked back at Kris with an eyebrow cocked upwards, “Unless you know where he’s hiding.”

Kris nodded towards the stone path they’d just walked down, “Pretty sure I think I know the location.” He grabbed the healer to follow them back to the area, “Chen, you can come on down. I doubt we’ll have anymore surprises now.”

_“Roger that.”_

Kris stopped in front of the pool of water that had him curious of earlier. He glanced at the healer, Lay, to find the being staring blankly at the surface of the water. The kid looked scared now though. He kept throwing glances between Kris and Lay, bottom lip between his teeth as if he were trying to stop himself from saying anything, from protesting, or from pleading with Kris again.

He turned back to the pool of water, it was deep, but he could see something at the bottom of it. It made sense now, if the _something_ was the water god, it would be the perfect hiding place. Beneath the water. The temple was probably just a ploy, something to trick any observer into wanting to explore or search, while meeting their doom by the inhabitants from earlier. And the water god could go on, hidden from the world, behind these ripples of water.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Kris questioned, turning back to the healer.

Xiumin looked between both of them, glancing at the water before turning towards Chen approaching them. “Fuck, these guys are geniuses, well, some of them were,” he commented, remembering that they’d killed the other four, so there was only the two that stood beside him and Kris. “He’s under the water,” he grinned, “duh, a water god.”

“Please, don’t-” the kid started before Lay interrupted, glaring at Kris.

“You’re taking him back to that man, aren’t you?”

“Two billion dollars are at stake for his return, so, yeah, I am,” Kris replied with a shrug, then cringed at the sound of the sob following his answer from the kid. “A job is a job.” He handed over his rifle to Xiumin, along with his pistol, then shed off his leather jacket, before stepping up to the edge of the stone pool of water. “Hopefully I won’t have any surprises waiting down there.” With that, he dove into the water.

Chen glanced over at the healer, “There isn’t anything else down there, right?”

When the healer looked over at the blonde hunter to answer, he froze. Their eyes connected and Lay swore he could’ve felt an electric current run through him. He looked down at his fingers to catch a small spark at the tip of his index finger. Whatever was happening shouldn’t have been possible since he was in his phasing, he wasn’t physically there, nothing should’ve been happening to him.

_“Luhan?”_

He heard a sigh from the male, _“He’s a thunder god’s child, Lay. A child of Zeus’s, despite him not knowing. If you touch him, you’re going to awaken his power within him.”_

His eyes widened then he looked back up at the new hunter to see the man staring at him in confusion. _“You mean, he’s my…”_

_“Your other half… he’s not as bad you’re thinking, Lay. Trust me on that.”_

_“But they’re still… they’re still going to take Suho.”_

_“They want the money, but I’ve already dug through the leader’s thoughts. They’re going to kill the old man after he pays them. Suho will be free then.”_

Lay’s eyes widened at that. He relayed Luhan’s words from earlier. They’re fueled by greed. He didn’t think anything else of it, and he thought the worst when the leader of the group said earlier about this just being another mission to them, and the amount that was to be rewarded for Suho’s capture. But he didn’t know that they had other plans afterwards.

_“That’s why I said they weren’t as bad as you’re thinking, Lay. You and D.O are in the best hands right now. Just be careful of the man’s son. He’s too far away now to be able to dig into his thoughts and intentions.”_

“You still with us, healer?” Chen’s voice rang clear, breaking Lay from his thoughts. The blonde hunter glanced at the black haired hunter, “What was his name again?”

Before the other could speak up, D.O was already answering, hand tightening in Lay’s hold, “He’s Lay.”

The blonde nodded slowly, eyes locked on the healer, “Okay, Lay, you were communicating with someone, weren’t you?”

Lay swallowed hard. Was he that transparent? How’d they know that he was talking to Luhan?

 _“Tell him you were communicating with Suho. Tell them that he must remain asleep,”_ Luhan’s voice filled his head once more.

“I was communicating with the water god, Suho. He can’t be disturbed… your leader will try to wake him but he must not be woken up. He’s healing, he needs to rest to heal.”

Xiumin and Chen shared a glance before the black haired male spoke up, “He can sleep all he wants, just makes the task of transporting him easier that way if he’s not resisting. You two, on the other hand…” he trailed off, looking back to Chen, eyebrow rose in curiosity, “Are we taking them with us?”

“He’s a healer, you know Kris won’t let him go that easily, and the kid is just a kid, Kris wouldn’t leave him out here to die,” he replied, looking at the younger male. “How old are you anyway?”

The kid looked unsure for a moment until he turned to Lay as if he were unsure of what to answer with. Something that the two hunters found odd. How could the kid not know how old he is?

Lay replied, “He’s twelve.”

“A twelve year old is a guardian too?” Xiumin questioned but before either Lay or the kid could answer, Kris was already breaking through the surface of the water, gasping for air as he dragged a body up along with him.

Xiumin quickly moved to the edge to help pull the limp body out of the water while Chen helped pull Kris up. Breathing heavily from the swim, Kris looked over the body of the water god. He looked dead, he didn’t even seem to be breathing, and his skin was almost cold as ice when he touched him.

The kid and Lay moved to the water god’s side, the kid clinging to the water god while the healer seemed to be examining him, almost as if he were checking to make sure Kris hadn’t hurt him.

Xiumin looked over the body, the water god, Suho, he was completely naked, the only thing covering him was the thin vines of different color flowers that seemed to come from his wet hair down the whole length of his body to his feet.

“Find something to cover him up with,” Kris commanded, taking a deep breath. Chen was quick to start rummaging through his bag for a blanket or extra pair of clothes to cover the water god. “You two,” he looked at both the healer and the kid, “are coming with us.”


	5. Chapter Four

_He could hear some commotion going on, he looked over the grassy area around the temple that he was resting on, towards the temple and the pools of water surrounding it. He didn’t see anything, but he also realized that no one else was there. He was alone._

_The moment he realized that no one else was around, he grew scared. He could feel the small tingling of the flowers that Lay had grew across his body, it was healing him, trying to calm him. But he still felt scared._

_What scared him more was the fact that D.O wasn’t there either. Where was the boy? D.O almost never left his side, but he wasn’t there. He couldn’t feel him at all._

_Suddenly that old familiar whistling started to fill his head, he looked around in every direction, curling up into himself in fear as it grew louder, but he couldn’t see that man, couldn’t find him anywhere. Tears started filling his eyes, the surroundings suddenly fading, disappearing into the old familiar walls of a dark bedroom, one where the only light was the dim sunshine trying to peek through the dark curtains covering the french doors of the room._

_Soft cries filled his ears as a bed appeared in front of him, and then he saw himself lying on the bed, hands chained to bed railing, bound to it. He was naked, unlike the body he glanced down at. There were old familiar marks on the body of himself that lied on the bed._

_The door to the room opened, the whistling getting louder as did the cries that came from the other him that lied on the bed. He knew what was coming, he shivered and trembled._

_He looked back at himself on the bed and wanted to save him, but before he could reach out, the whistling stopped. A cold hand wrapped around his arm, pulling him up from his cowering position. He could see the wings again, wicked black looking wings that scared him but at the same time, comforted him._

_The hold on his arm gave him an instant peace as he felt himself be hauled up. He couldn't see the person in front of him, they were shrouded in shadows._

_But despite that, he felt safe._

_The scene of that man and the image of himself on the bed quickly started vanishing, turning into nothing but clear, gentle waves. He was safe from that man again._

He opened his eyes and saw a black haired man swimming towards him, a cold hand grabbed hold to his arm and he felt calmness fill him, that touch made him want to curl into the man for safety. And then he saw those black wings again but this time _,_ they were almost transparent. Fading until they weren't there anymore. And they didn't seem as wicked anymore. They seemed… safe.

 _“Suho, I need you to go back to sleep, okay?”_ Luhan’s voice ran through his head.

 _“Who is he, Luhan?”_ Suho asked mentally, he wanted to know who this man was. This man that looked so cold but there was a soft fire in those eyes looking at him, a gentle flame, a hue color of blue. _“He’s… calming.”_

_“I imagine he is, and you’ll find out in due time, but I need you to rest your mind again. Those memories are still on the rise… due to recent events, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to create as many blockages on them from surfacing, but for any of the healing process to work at all, I need you to sleep.”_

Suho felt that strong hold on his arm, then his body being pulled up, closer to that source of comfort, he closed his eyes once again and let himself be taken away by sleep again.

 

Kris wasn’t expecting to find the water god naked under the water but he assumed that maybe that’s just how the water god lived underwater? Nevertheless, it didn’t stop him from grabbing hold to the being and swimming back to the surface. Although he wasn’t expecting to see the water god’s eyes open once he grabbed his arm, those eyes were almost the same color as the water, a dark greenish blue. Like the darkness areas of the ocean.

He felt a sense of peace wash over him, which quickly was replaced with that old familiar itch in between his shoulder blades. It felt even stronger now, like something wanting to break through his skin. Once the water god’s eyes closed, the itching between his shoulder blades stopped.

Pulling the water god up and close to him, he started towards the surface of the water, finally breaking into the air and releasing the held breath. He swam towards the side of the pool of water and with the help of Chen and Xiumin, he was able to haul the water god out of the water and onto the concrete platform.

He breathed in as much air as his lungs needed before barking out commands, “Find something to cover him up with.” They couldn’t tote the water god all the way back to their employer naked. To which, Chen was already digging through his bag for something, Kris looked over at the other two, the healer and the kid, “You two are coming with us.”

The healer watched as the blonde haired male started covering Suho up with some of the clothes he’d found before looking back at the leader, Luhan’s words kept going through his head, but he had to be sure, “Are you going to hurt us?”

Kris shook his head, “As long as you don’t interfere with our mission, no harm will come to you.” He looked down at the kid, “I’m not in the business of hurting children either.”

Chen spoke up, “The healer can communicate with the water god, I’m guessing some kind of telepathy,” the blonde’s gaze didn’t faze at all when the healer turned to him with a glare at that mention, “I noticed him when you went down to retrieve the guy…”

The healer sighed, glare fading off, it was best that they believed he was _only_ communicating with the water god, “I was just telling him to go back to sleep.” He looked over at the black haired man, Kris, their leader, “He’s healing, he needs to rest while he heals.”

Kris glanced back at the water god, eying the flowers as most of them were slowly being covered up by the clothes Chen and Xiumin were fixing on the god, they weren’t tattoos from what he felt of them, “That’s the reason for the flower vines? His body looks flawless.”

Lay started to reply but D.O cut him off, “It’s his… memories that he’s healing from. Hyung… hyung has bad memories that have to be healed.”

Chen looked down at the sleeping water god, then turned a scowl to Kris, “I told you that it was obvious that the old fuck used him for dirty reasons. I mean, what other reasons could the guy have used him for other than a sex slave?”

“And I told you that the money was too great to turn down the mission,” Kris glared back, “And we’ve already decided to go with Plan B. The guy can sleep the entire time while we take care of the mission and let Plan B play out for all I care. Makes the whole job that much easier for us.”

Xiumin had to nod at that, then spared a glance at the two guardians, seeing the way that Lay was glancing back and forth between Chen and Kris and then the way that the kid looked scared for the water god’s being. “So… anyway, let’s get going? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we get paid and the water god gets sent back here to rest some more?”

“Perfect,” Kris commented on it, grabbing the water god’s arm and lifting him up to carry him over his shoulder, “I’ve got him, now let’s go.”

D.O and Lay followed after, Xiumin moved behind the two, and while Lay figured it was to make sure they were following after them, the way that Xiumin kept glancing around, scoping out their surroundings, it was obvious that he was keeping an eye out for any kind of ambush from the others that were shooting towards them earlier.

But while they were moving through the forest, back down the same paths that they took to reach the temple, Kris noticed the itch between his shoulder blades was starting up again. It wasn’t as unbearable as it had been but it was making itself known. He also noticed how cool the water god’s body temperature was, despite the clothes that were covering the god, Kris still felt the cool temperature.

“Is he always this cold?” Kris questioned, “I figured earlier it was due to the water being cold why he was cold but with him being so close now, and since he’s clothed… he’s not warming up.”

Lay started to answer, but D.O quickly moved up to Kris’s side, “Hyung is a water god, his body temperature is a lot lower than a normal human’s.” He reached over to touch Kris’s hand that was on his AK-47, “Your body temperature seems lower than a normal human’s too. Not as low as hyung’s, but it’s not the normal temperature.”

Xiumin and Chen exchanged confusions glances at that, the black haired male moving up to touch Kris’s forehead, annoying the leader, but the look on Xiumin’s face kept him from swatting at his hand. “He’s right… you’re cooler than usual. You feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s probably just from jumping into the water.”

The kid didn’t look like that was the reason why but Xiumin did back off, and the five continued on in silence. Xiumin and Chen were keeping an eye out for any kind of ambush or any kind of trap set up by the other Americans that were shooting at them earlier.

It would reach nightfall before they were able to get back towards the small town that they’d landed in and rather than take their chances in the dark with the other hunters out there, Kris managed to find their little clearing that they used the previous night on their way to the temple. There, they set up camp for one more night in the wilderness before they made it back to the town.

As Xiumin was busy with making a small fire, Kris lied the water god up against one of the stumps of a tree, keeping an eye on the other two while Chen started passing out cups of water. They only had three cups since they only ever prepared for themselves on missions, but Kris gave his to the kid while the healer declined any offer.

“I’m fine, I don’t need any food or water,” Lay replied, moving back over to Suho’s side, almost as if he were examining the water god to insure he was still okay.

Kris watched the two for a moment before his attention was drawn to the kid that seemed to stay closer to Kris’s side now. “So… you’re a guardian too?”

D.O looked up from his cup, eyes wide as if he weren’t sure of the answer, “Um… yeah—”

Chen spoke up, “He’s twelve, by the way.” He looked up from the fire where he was warming small portions of the canned food, “We already asked about that when you were swimming with the water god earlier.”

Kris’s eyes widened, looking back at the kid, “You’re twelve? _Years_ old?” D.O hesitantly nodded, “How did a twelve year old end up being a guardian? What god are you a child of?” D.O’s eyes seemed to grow wider at that, quickly looking over at Lay for what appeared to be answers.

Chen and Xiumin noticed it earlier too, almost as if the kid wasn’t sure if he should say whatever Lay wanted him to or… to answer _truthfully_. Kris saw the look, “Is there something that we’re missing here? You can’t answer without the healer telling you that you can or something?”

D.O gulped, looking back up at Kris with watering eyes, “I-I can’t… I don’t know… I don’t know what to say… I’m sorry, it’s for hyung’s own good—” he was almost sobbing when Kris’s arm came around his shoulders, the discomfort at seeing the kid almost breaking down was evident on the leader’s face.

“Hey, kid, calm down. It’s okay, if you don’t want to tell us, it’s fine, I promise. Calm down, breathe, in and out,” he demonstrated, breathing in deeply and exhaling, trying to calm D.O. The kid hiccupping, a whimper escaping him, but he tried to breathe in, shakily, but his breaths were getting better with the more he tried to take. “That’s it, it’s okay if you can’t tell us.” Kris’s voice had softened, his arm still around the kid and before long, after he’d gotten his breathing under control, D.O had leaned over into Kris’s hold.

“I… I’m tired now,” D.O mumbled, still leaning against Kris. The small panic attack seeming to have drained his energy. But Kris didn’t shake him off, he still held the kid close. D.O was asleep within minutes before Chen started passing out the warmed food.

Kris figured after the day that they’d had, with the kid getting shot, almost dying, and then everything happening afterwards, yeah, the kid must’ve been tired, especially with a panic attack on top of it.

The healer declined any offer again, his attention still on the water god, but more concerned for D.O now.

“So, you wanna tell us what that was all about?” Kris asked, glancing down at the kid before turning his gaze to the healer.

 _‘You can tell them, Lay, they wouldn’t treat you or D.O any differently if they knew. It would also help D.O in the long run. He wouldn’t have to worry about another panic attack,’_ Luhan’s voice rang through his head, he’d felt earlier that Luhan had used some of his energy to heal two of their brothers.

“D.O… he’s fragile,” Lay replied, pausing and unsure how to explain the child. Lay glanced between the water god and the kid, “He’s younger than he appears, he’s almost five years old…” the confused and shocked looks of the hunters didn’t go amiss, Lay continued, “One of the guardians is a time god, a child of Kronos. After D.O was born, we’ve allowed his body to age faster than a normal child’s. He appears to be almost a young teenager now, but his mind… it’s still one of a toddler’s—”

“Okay, wait, his name is D.O?” Kris questioned, “As in the letters? D and O?”

Lay nodded, “It’s abbreviated.”

“Abbreviated for what?” Xiumin asked before Kris could utter the question.

“Disposable Offspring.”

Kris and Xiumin’s mouths fell open at that, so Chen spoke up, “Okay, what the fuck. Who names their kid that? Wait… who’s kid is he?” Lay briefly spared the blonde a glance, hesitating at answering. “No, seriously, you said he was almost five years old, so who could’ve—,” Chen stopped himself, eyes widening, he looked at the water god, the answer dawning on him, “holy fuck.”

“Wait. The kid is the water god’s kid?” Kris looked back and forth between Lay and Chen before his eyes rested on the sleeping god’s body slumped up against the stump. “But… he’s a male… men can’t get… pregnant?”

“ _Human_ males can’t get pregnant, but gods can, children of gods can. I’m sure you’ve all heard of Zeus and his children,” Lay stated.

Well, yeah, with all the odd births that Zeus had with some of his children, yeah, it did seem possible now, despite the water god being male.

Xiumin spoke up, “So then… who would be the father of the kid?”

“Shit…” Kris murmured, looking down at the kid, “I knew he looked familiar when I first saw him, his father is Johnson. Stephen Johnson. Our employer.”

Lay’s eyes lowered from the shocked faces of the hunters. Chen scowled at Kris, “I told you that something didn’t sit right with him, _looking for his slave_. Obviously the old man didn’t use him for anything other than a bed warmer.”

Kris looked back at Chen, rolling his eyes, “And I told you what we’re doing after we collect the money.” He turned back to the kid, “But why give him that name? And why did he call the water god his _hyung_ instead of… umma or appa?” He wasn’t sure what the boy would’ve called his parent that gave birth to him…

“We didn’t know what to name him, he’s a disposable offspring, considering he’s from a half-breed, and he was forcibly conceived, we’ve tried to ease Suho’s memories of that man to try and help him with his healing, but D.O still exists. He’s a reminder, no matter how much he isn’t at fault, he’s still a memory of that man.”

Kris couldn’t help the scowl that crossed his face, “So the water god doesn’t want him at all?”

Lay hesitated, “You have to understand that Suho was forced to conceive, he was raped every day during the captivity he suffered from that man. The one time that he forced pleasure from Suho is when he had conceived, we had to save him and we did, Suho was already at rest during D.O’s birth.”

“Does that man know about the kid?” Xiumin asked, still referring to him as ‘the kid’ because he didn’t want to use that name for the kid. They had to change that.

Lay shook his head, “No. Suho was rescued before he began to show signs.”

“The water god… Suho… doesn’t resent him, right?” Kris asked, to which Lay shook his head, “Because if he doesn’t want him, I’ll take him.”

“Um, what?” Xiumin questioned, Chen and Lay looking at him in confusion.

“I’ll take him,” Kris repeated, “We know what it’s like to be unwanted more than anything, guys, I’m not letting a kid that has a horrible name at that, which we _are_ changing by the way, feel like that.”

And yeah, Chen and Xiumin did know. The three of them were orphans, had been together as far back as they could remember, in an orphanage, watching other kids being adopted or moved on into foster homes, but no one wanted the three of them. In the end, after they aged out, they were still all the three had. It was the reason why they were so close.

It was obvious that the situation had stressed the kid, if the panic attack earlier was any kind of indication. Worried about what to say or what to do, to keep from triggering his parent’s memories or affecting his healing.

It was quiet for a moment, the hunger for the warmed up food was now gone due to the atmosphere around them. Chen put down his food, Xiumin following suit, while Kris glanced back over at the healer, then turned his gaze to the sleeping water god. He wondered what the god was even dreaming of or what was going on in the god’s mind. There was no way they were leaving the water god in the hands of their employer now.

Plan B was definitely in action now, along with taking care of whatever Americans were out in the woods, looking for the water god too. But for now? Kris was more concerned with the wellbeing of the child leaned up against him.

“Who is keeping watch out tonight?” Xiumin asked, settling his gun by his side, ready for quick access. “Do you think we’ll have any unlikely visitors?”

Kris looked around the dark woods surrounding them, then his gaze landed on the healer, “Maybe not from those Americans, but we won’t have any more guardians popping up, will we?”

Lay shook his head, “You shot all of them earlier.”

“I doubt we killed them, it was just normal rounds we used. No silver, no chemicals, no rock salt of the sort.”

The healer hesitated, “…they’re still down right now, they haven’t been healed yet.” Which wasn’t true because he could already feel the energy that Luhan was drawing from him to heal the others.

“Because we have their healer here?” Chen questioned, leading Lay to nod. He looked over at Kris, “I’ll stay up and keep watch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't given up on this story but it will be slowly updated, this story along with The Package.


	6. Chapter Five

An hour later, Chen poked at the fire, ears open for any little noise while his eyes stayed on the flames and the logs that were slowly being eaten away by the fire. He noticed that the healer wasn’t sleeping, still clinging close to the water god’s side. It made him wonder if it was just the guardian side of the healer that was making the male stick close to the water god’s side or if it was something else, something more.

Glancing over at Xiumin to see the man cuddled up in his coat, and then over at Kris leaned back against one of the trees with the kid resting against the leader, Kris’s blanket thrown over them, he wondered if the healer was cold or not.

He looked back at the healer, “Are you cold? I have an extra blanket…”

Lay shook his head, “I’m fine, I don’t feel the cold.”

Chen nodded slowly, staring at the healer, and it had occurred to him that they never got the guardian’s name. Other than _healer_ , it’s all that they had been referring to him as. “I know this is a bit late, but what’s your name?”

The healer paused, realizing that they hadn’t asked what the guardian’s name was before, “My name is Lay… I agree it is a bit late but I never learned what your name was either. Nor the other two.”

Chen paused, “I guess due to our circumstances, we didn’t have a proper introduction. I’m Chen,” he pointed towards Kris, “That’s our leader, Kris, he’s actually the youngest of us, but tallest… I guess that’s why he became our leader.” Then he pointed towards Xiumin, “That’s Xiumin, he’s the oldest, despite him looking the youngest.”

“Are you all brothers?”

Chen shook his head, then shrugged, “We may as well be, but we’re not biological. We’re orphans, grew up together in an orphanage. We aged out eventually though, and afterwards, we stuck together and formed what we are today.”

Lay slowly nodded, “How did you three get into hunting beings like us?” He wanted to tack on and say like you too, but the blonde hunter across from him didn’t know about that. He didn’t know about the electric power that ran through his body and Lay refused to awaken that power, not right now. It wasn’t the right time.

Chen snorted a laugh, “Kris got into it. All the times of watching television at the orphanage, watching crime shows and supernatural shows. At first we were just bounty hunters looking for normal criminals, then we got our first supernatural job and ever since, Kris was hooked. He liked the challenge, and me and Xiumin liked the money and freedom that came with it.”

“But you were against this mission?” He motioned towards Suho, glancing back at Chen, recalling all the snarky replies that the blonde gave their leader at the mentions of the mission, and more specifically their employer. “Your leader, Kris, said that he was after the money for this mission, aren’t you as well?”

The blonde sighed, “There is a very large amount for this mission, and I was impressed by the amount too, but the details of the mission is what had me hesitating. A rich fuck looking for his _slave_. I knew it was obvious what that meant, plus I’d done research into the old bastard. Wife left him and took their son all over a crazy fascination of his, I’m assuming it was the water god that was his fascination.

“We don’t usually take on missions like this when it comes to someone referred to as a _slave_. But the price tag is what keeps driving Kris, and Xiumin and I have to stick around to make sure nothing happens to that big baby. He’s our little brother after all.”

Lay was quiet for a moment, processing the words that Chen said. Luhan’s words still ringing through his head along with the talks about their plans for after the completion of the mission. He looked back at Suho, if the water god woke up and saw the man again, he knew that all their hard work at trying to ease Suho and his memories would all go to waste. But most of all, Lay would be damned if the human man were to lay hands on Suho again.

They might never be able to save Suho from the damage it could do. D.O was already enough of a reminder of the man, and if anything, Luhan could tweak the memories of the child, it was one of the reasons why they allowed D.O’s body to age the way it did. In Suho’s mind, it would appear that the younger was simply someone very precious and close to him, and not actually _his_ child. 

But then he looked over at D.O. The child wasn’t at fault with any of this, if anything, he was the reason why they found Suho. The beacon of light that started forming in Suho’s womb from D.O’s soul being created was the trail that the light god needed to come across Suho’s path and discover the situation that the water god was in.

They hadn’t heard anything else from the light god since the rescue, Lay wondered what exactly Baekhyun was up to.

“You realize what damage it will do if you take him back to that man though, right?” Lay asked, turning his gaze back to Chen. The man that was his other half. He still didn’t know what to do about that either, other than avoid all physical contact for the time being.

The grave nod from Chen told him that he could imagine what it would do. “Kris will probably kill me for telling you this, but we do have a Plan B that we’re following through with, after we get the money. We’re not just _leaving_ him there… will he stay asleep the entire time during the exchange?”

“I’m going to try and make sure he stays asleep. The less awareness he has of his situation, the better.”

 

_“The less he knows, the better.” The words kept going through Kris’s mind. He was half-dreaming and half-listening to Chen and the healer, Lay’s, conversation. Once everything fell into silence, his whole mind went completely black. Almost as if he were having the same reoccurring nightmare of his._

_Unlike the flames and heat that usually burned him up in previous dreams, now it was just cold. A bone-chilling cold. He looked around, searching the blackness for something, anything._

_Then a cool hand reached out to him, a bluish green haze phasing into existence in front of him. It slowly formed a person, a being, in all blue and green colored silks, robes, all the colors of the ocean. The murky waters, a deep green and blue, covering one of the palest bodies he’d ever seen through the thin fabric._

_It all lead up to the face that was slowly becoming clear, no longer blurred. It was the water god. Suho._

_Kris stared in awe, this must’ve been what the water god looked like in all his glory. No vines of flowers around the being at all, he looked powerful where he stood, but calming at the same time. Like he was a gentle wave, water that just trickled down a creek, but there was a strength in him that Kris knew could form hurricanes. Water was a calm thing, but it had the ability to be destructive, just like this being in front of him._

_And when their gazes met, his dark eyes meeting those that looked like the deepest blue oceans, almost appearing black, that’s when the itch between his shoulder blades started flaring up. He cringed at the pain of it, but it stopped instantly when a cool hand reached up and cupped the side of his face. It was almost like being caressed by a gentle wave._

_“There’s something in you that needs to be released… you keep fighting it, why do you keep fighting it?”_

_Kris wanted to open his mouth and ask what the fuck was he fighting because he sure as hell didn’t know, but he couldn’t make any noise or any words come out. He looked down at himself, wondering why he was in, what appeared to be, the blackest robe he’d ever saw. He looked back at the water god’s robes and everything about him was so dark compared to this being._

_The hand on his cheek urged him to look back up, the water god was looking beyond Kris, over his shoulder, “Your wings are so wicked looking… but you are so calming to me. Why do you not scare me? Why am I not scared of you?”_

_“Wh-what…” Kris tried to force out, he wanted to ask what the water god was talking about, but he still couldn’t seem to voice the words._

_“Suho, I need you to let the man rest now,” another voice filled the silence around them, Kris looked around to try and find it, but saw no one. He turned back to the water god to see the saddest expression on the male’s face._

_“I want to stay with him, Luhan. I feel safe with him, can’t I stay with him?” Suho almost pleaded, the water god looked almost as if he were going to grasp hold to Kris, to hold onto him to avoid being taken away._

_“You are with him,” the voice replied back. This Luhan person. And then everything around turned from black into almost an outlook of the resting place that they’d set up for that night._

_Kris saw himself and the child against one of the trees, asleep, then he saw the water god near the healer with the healer and Chen talking. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but he saw their mouths moving. He looked back at the water god in front of him before turning back to the scene._

_“See? You’re with him, not right beside him nor touching, but he’s within your grasp. So is D.O and Lay.”_

_The water god sighed, almost as if in relief, then he dropped his hand from Kris’s face, bringing Kris’s attention back to the being in front of him, “D.O must like you. He must think you’re safe like I do. The child is so innocent, precious.”_

_The voice started to say something else but Kris’s voice was finally coming out now, “He is safe, you are too.”_

_Suho opened his mouth to reply, but Luhan cut him off, “Suho, please, I need you to let him go back to his dreams. It’s best that for now, his powers be not awakened.”_

_That filled Kris with confusion but it quickly faded when he noticed the water god in front of him and the scene around them fading, evaporating, disappearing until there was nothing but blackness again. And a deep feeling of loneliness._

He woke up, the itching between his shoulder blades starting up again. He heard the voices around him, the healer and Chen were still talking, there was also the faint sound of Xiumin’s snoring. Kris slowly peeked one eye open and noticed that the sky wasn’t as dark now, it must’ve been nearing sunrise. He glanced down to the short haired child still leaned against his side, asleep, then over towards the water god.

He wasn’t sure what the dream that he had was about but it didn’t seem as though the water god knew that D.O was his child. The being referred to D.O as _the child_ , not _my child_. It was evident in the water god’s expression that there was a fondness there for D.O but Kris wondered if the water god even knew about the child’s birth. The healer mentioned earlier that Suho was already at rest when D.O was born… perhaps he didn’t know.

 _“Your prize lies in the waves of peace,”_ he could hear Hades’ voice ringing through his head again, and then the dream resurfaced.

Suho’s touch to Kris’s cheek, the aura coming from the god, the peace he felt from that touch, that gaze… was Suho his prize that Hades talked about?

Kris looked back over at Suho. It was obvious that there was something that, he’d felt it earlier when he went down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve the water god, but it quickly faded off when the being closed their eyes, Kris assumed that he was being lulled back to sleep by Lay, if the communication that Chen mentioned earlier was what that was about.

The itching between his shoulder blades flared up then too, almost as if something did want to be released from the area, and then Suho’s question rang through his head again. It was about something needing to be released. And since that interaction with the child of Hades’ that they’d fought awhile back, it was a lingering ache that Kris wondered about.

“Are the guardians that were at the temple brothers of yours?” Chen’s voice broke through Kris’s thoughts, focusing now on the conversation between the two.

“No, like you and your group, we are not biologically brothers, but we are close. Baekhyun was the one that called us all together to help Suho escape that man, but we all came together to protect him as he rested.”

“And you said earlier that he was at rest when he gave birth to the kid?”

Kris peeked an eye open at the healer, to see him nodding, “His mind and body was at rest when he gave birth, we tried to keep his mind as calm as we could keep him, your leader asked earlier if Suho resented D.O, he can’t resent him, the truth is, he doesn’t even know that the child is his own. There’s a fondness for the child from Suho, and there’s a closeness between the two, D.O knows that Suho is his parent, but Suho doesn’t.”

“Would it be so bad if Suho did know about the kid?” Chen questioned.

“We don’t know, Suho is very vulnerable, his mind is fragile, the amount of torment that that man did to him, there’s still wounds on him, not scars. Scars would mean that it’s healed, at least, but any little bit of the memory of that man will leave him in a panicked state.”

Chen sighed, “Will he stay asleep during our whole journey? If after we’ve finished with the mission and he’s back in the temple, will you eventually tell him about the kid? We’re killing the old man after the mission’s finished so he won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“I’m hoping he does, if I can help it then he’ll stay asleep, but I—” the healer froze for a moment, a gasp falling from his lips, and Kris looked up at the male, and somehow his body looked fuller… he looked more… physical? If that were possible…. Then his shoulders sagged as if he were exhausted, breathing slowly, and Kris realized this was the first time he’d noticed the man take a breath. Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, Chen was already speaking up.

“What was that? Your body… you seem more… I’m sorry, I just noticed it now but it was like your body was transparent earlier and now you’re… you’re _fully_ here?”

Lay’s eyes widened, hesitating to reply, “I can’t tell you—”

“Can’t or won’t? You were communicating with the water god earlier with your mind… was this something to do with that?” He motioned to the healer’s body then looked at the sleeping water god.

Lay paused, almost as if he were debating on telling Chen the truth or not, but then shook his head, “I can’t tell you, I’m sorry.”

Kris wasn’t surprised when Chen let the topic rest, the blonde hunter usually had a way of getting the truth out of someone later on anyway. “It’s okay.”

 

As soon as the sun started peeking above the horizon, the kid shifting beside Kris was what fully awakened the leader. Once he opened his eyes, he saw that Xiumin was already awake and sipping off of the instant coffee while Chen was handing over some of the leftover food from last night to the healer. The stomach growling beside him had Kris looking down to see the kid reaching out towards Chen for some of the food.

He chuckled to himself, moving the blanket off of himself and grabbing one of the small plates from beside Chen to hand to the kid, “Eat as much as you want.”

The kid bowed slightly, already starting to dig into the food, thanking Kris with his mouth full as he kept eating.

Kris turned back to glance at the sleeping water god, “He’ll be okay without any kind of nourishment?”

Lay nodded, “While he’s asleep, his body doesn’t have to intake food or water.”

“Can he still hear or know what’s going on around him while he’s asleep?” Kris questioned, the dream from last night was still fresh in his mind. Along with the voice that called the water god back. It wasn’t the healer’s voice that Kris heard, this was someone else, and Kris was wondering if that person was someone that Lay could also contact… it may have even been the person that he was communicating with before.

Lay frowned in confusion, “No, he’s too deeply immersed in sleep.”

Despite that answer, Kris still wondered about the water god’s sleep. Because it seemed completely different last night in the dream. Maybe it was only in the subconscious that the water god could visit him? Or any of them while they were asleep as well.

 

After the quick breakfast, the group set back out towards the small village that the plane landed in, and so far, no sight of the Americans that attacked them at the temple. Xiumin kept an eye out while Chen tried to stay aware. It wasn’t a rarity for any of them to go the entire night without any sleep, but it did wear on the body at times, and he was a bit tired from the night before.

Kris was carrying the water god over his shoulder while the child stuck by his side, a bit closer than yesterday, while the healer stayed a few feet between the leader.

“So have you decided on a new name for the kid?” Xiumin asked, swatting at the annoying bugs again, noticing that Chen was lazily smacking at them.

D.O looked surprised at that, looking back at Xiumin then to Lay before returning his gaze to Kris, “I’m getting a new name?”

Kris glanced down at him, “I’m not calling you D.O, not after finding out what it stood for.”

That confused D.O, he knew what his name meant, and he didn’t think anything of it. It was the truth… but seeing the way that Kris reacted towards his name, maybe it wasn’t okay?

“Oh… what name do you want me to have then?”

Kris thought about it for a moment, looking down at the kid. He hadn’t given much thought into it, and he didn’t want to pick something stupid or ordinary for the kid. Pausing for a moment, he ran through so many names in his head that would fit the kid.

“Hmm… how about Kyungsoo?” Kris suggested, he pointed to the kid’s lips where a smile had been earlier, “Kyung for radiant, brilliance, and then Soo for flowering. From yesterday’s first meeting with us and then to now, you’ve opened up a little bit, wouldn’t you say? Like a bud of a flower does.”

Chen and Xiumin shared a look before rolling their eyes, Xiumin trying to hold back a snort of a laugh, the two were used to Kris’s cheesiness, but D.O looked elated at the name and from learning the meaning. Lay threw glances at the two hunters before turning back to D.O and the leader. He had to admit the name sounded nice and the meaning behind it was pleasant, and it did fit the child.

“ _‘Kyungsoo’_ ,” D.O, now Kyungsoo, repeated the name, smiling to himself before nodding at Kris, “I like it. My name is _Kyungsoo_.” Kris started to smile until the child voiced his next question, his eyes shifting from Kris to the water god’s body, “Do you think hyung will like it?”

Lay opened his mouth to reply but Kris was already shrugging, “He seems fond of flowers,” referring to the vines of flowers covering the water god’s body, “I don’t see why he wouldn’t like it.”

Kyungsoo grinned widely at that, turning back to the path they were moving down, “I’m Kyungsoo. My name is Kyungsoo.”

 

A few hours passed by as they continued on the path back towards the village until Chen cursed out as he looked down at the GPS system. His sudden cursing caused everyone else to pause, he was quickly typing in something in the system, growing more frustrated as the GPS kept blinking out. It wouldn’t pick up their location nor could it even find the correct directions of north and south.

“What the fuck? It’s like the GPS is broken or something,” Chen scowled, “It was working fine earlier and now? It can’t even register north from south.”

Kris groaned, shoulders sagging, “Don’t tell me that we’re lost.”

Chen slightly shrugged, lightly hitting the GPS system, “Well, if modern technology fucks up, there’s always the old-school technics.” He handed the system over to Xiumin, then started going through his bag to pull out a map and a compass.

“That’s odd though that it stopped working,” Xiumin commented, pressing some of the buttons and hitting it a little harder than Chen did.

Kris glanced over at Lay to see the male intrigued by the system, there didn’t seem to be any deceit in the healer’s being, so the GPS system failing probably wasn’t any of his doing. He wondered if the Americans that attacked them could’ve had anything to do with it. He knew there were ways to disrupt a compass system.

Scoping out the trees and brush around them, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, nor did he catch the sight of anyone hiding around them.

“Well, we’re a little ways off the course that we took to get to the temple, but we should still be able to reach the village before nightfall,” Chen stated, looking over the map. “But don’t hold me to it. We may still be camping in the sticks tonight.”

Xiumin sighed heavily at that, but Kris spoke up, “If we do, then I’ll stay up tonight and keep watch. Something doesn’t seem right about our GPS system stopping, and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the little American visitors we had at the temple.”

 

 _“Luhan?”_ Lay mentally called the other guardian, _“Is it the Americans that caused the problems with their device?”_

_“It’s not our doing, you’re too far out of range from the temple for any of us to interfere. It could be the Americans. I can’t tap into any of their thoughts or the hunters that are with you.”_

Lay looked at Kris and then around them to try and find anything out of the ordinary of their surroundings. Since he was physically back in his body, he didn’t have the advantages that he had before, and Lay wasn’t a fighter or strategist like the other guardians. If anything were to happen, Lay offered little help when it came to defense.

“I don’t see anything but let’s keep our ears and eyes open. Chen, you stay focused on the map, you’re already dragging so just hit the ground if anything happens,” Kris cast another glance around them before turning back to start back forward.

Kyungsoo moved a bit closer to Kris’s side, “Are we going to be attacked?”

Kris looked down at him, “I hope we won’t but it’s best to be prepared, just in case. If we are attacked, I want you to get down on the ground too.”

Kyungsoo nodded, “Okay, what about hyung?”

“I’ll keep him safe, don’t worry.”

\--

The three of them moved quietly through the wooden area, not far from the little group of hunters that had their prize. One of them carried the GPS jamming device that was interfering with the hunter’s GPS system. The other Americans were waiting for the group near the village but they were instructed to get the hunters lost and then ambush them that night. Using the help of the night to be able to take the water god from the hunters.

“They’re not far from where the others are. Are we really going to wait until nightfall to attack them?”

The lead of the small group shrugged, “I’ll message the boss and see what he says. It’s not like we can’t take them down now.”

One of them held up their gun, aimed at the other hunters to use the scope, “Got three clean shots right here. Are we killing the kid and the other guardian too?”

Reading over the response message from the boss, the man read off, “He said if you got a clear shot then take it. They’re on their way back this way.” He nodded to the one holding up the gun, “Take it. Kill the guardian and kid too.”

“Roger that,” the man cocked his gun and took aim.

\--

Kris felt like something was off as they continued down the path, Chen was mumbling about directions behind him but there was something else that was plaguing Kris’s mind. He glanced down at Kyungsoo to see the kid still following in step beside him then looked over at the healer to see the man shifting his gaze around them. So the healer probably felt something off too.

“Guys, do you—” a loud shot rang out in the air around them, Kris felt a sharp, stinging pain in the back of his thigh. One that had his legs buckling under him, and once his knees hit the ground, he saw the kid ducking down to the ground, like Kris told him to do, but his face was full of worry as he looked down at the area of Kris’s leg that felt like it was on fire. Pain radiating through it.

Then more shots rang out in the air, he heard cries coming from Chen and Xiumin, the loudest cries were coming from Kyungsoo. The child looking around them, eyes wet with tears before the healer, Lay, quickly moved to his side, and within the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Another shot rang out and Kris couldn’t hold onto the water god any longer, his limp body falling off his shoulder as Kris coughed up blood, splattering it on the ground in front of him, the back of his leg was still in pain, but after that last shot, his shoulder was blossoming out in pain, his shirt growing warm and wet as more of his blood soaked through.

He tried to look back at Chen and Xiumin but one more shot and he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, falling to the ground. He heard no movement behind him at all, nothing from Chen or Xiumin. Kris tried calling out for them but the more that his shirt was growing damp and warm, the colder his body was becoming, the further his consciousness was drifting, everything was becoming so dark.

The colder he felt, the more the itching between his shoulder blades was flaring up and slowly fading out.

He heard footsteps coming towards them, and the sound of a gun cocking above him was the last he heard.

\--

“That was easy pickings,” one of the men stated, pulling the trigger of his gun aimed at the leader of the group’s head. “What a pathetic excuse for hunters. You come out on a mission like this without at least a group of ten then you’re just asking for a death wish.”

Another one scoffed, grabbing hold to the sleeping god’s arm and hauling him up, “I have to give them props though, they _did_ take out those other guardians and find the water bastard.”

“And they did take down five of our guys, apparently the boss didn’t think that one through.”

The man standing over the leader shrugged and rolled his eyes, “Whatever, his loss. We’re still getting paid. Let’s go.”

 


	7. Chapter Six

Once the three men had left the area with the water god, Lay phased back into the spot, Kyungsoo quickly breaking free from his hold to move to Kris’s side, sobs falling from his lips. Lay quickly moved to the side of Xiumin to check for the man’s pulse. It was barely there but enough for Lay to work with.

“D—” Lay stopped himself and corrected the name, “Kyungsoo, check the other hunter’s pulse. His wounds don’t look too bad, but the leader, it’s a headshot, we’ll need Tao and Luhan for his healing.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened, he moved over to the blonde hunter’s side, but not before crying out, “So he’s dead?”

Lay almost had the bullet out of the black haired hunter’s back, sparing a sadden glance at Kyungsoo and then to the leader, “He is.”

Kyungsoo gulped hard, his bottom lip wobbling in another sob building up, but he tried to calm down as he checked the blonde’s pulse. “He’s alive, Lay… he’s still breathing.”

“Good, call for Kai. We’re going back to the temple.”

\--

It didn’t take long to the reach the meeting point where the three met up with their boss. They were surprised that no matter how many times they tried to wake the water god, he still hadn’t moved or showed signs of waking. They would’ve believed he was dead if it weren’t for the rising and falling of his chest with each inhale and exhale of breath.

Tossing the body down on the ground, the leader of the group looked up at their boss, Heath Johnson, “Mission complete, boss.”

Their boss scoffed, eyeing the body on the ground, “So this is the fucker that my father was so fucking crazy over.”

One of the men bent down and grabbed the water god’s face, holding it up to Heath to look over, getting a few glances himself, “He’s not that bad on the eyes. Could do without the flowers all over his face.”

“Do they come off?”

The man shrugged, thumbing at one of them, but it was almost as if they were tattooed onto the water god’s skin, “Nope. Must be tattoos or something. What do we do with him now?”

Heath grinned at that question, a wicked glint in his eyes as he stared down at the water god’s body, “Now we have fun, boys. We can enjoy ourselves before hauling his ass back to collect the reward money.” He nodded to one of the other men to pick up the water god and move him into the tent at their site. “Go ahead and strip him.”

\--

Death was an odd thing. It was like the dream that he’d had the night before, all black, nothing around him, no sounds, nothing at all. He didn’t even see the light at the end of any tunnels around him, like he’d heard so many times. It was just himself, all alone, cold, dark, and quiet. So fucking quiet.

He looked around himself, trying to see anything in the darkness, taking a few steps here and there, but never seemed to be moving from his spot. Maybe because it seemed like he wasn’t moving at all, he couldn’t tell where the spot he appeared was to where he was now.

“Xiumin? Chen?” Kris called out in the darkness, surely they would be here somewhere, wouldn’t they? He heard them get shot too. Unless they managed to survive. “Kyungsoo?”

Something grabbed hold to his hand, causing him to stop in his tracks, he looked back, and almost sighed in relief when the water god stood in front of him. Just like in the dream the night before. Still beautiful, still radiant, still breathtaking. But there was worry in the water god’s eyes as he scanned over Kris’s body.

“You’re… you’re dead…” the water god reached out and touched the front of Kris’s chest, and when he withdrew his hand, there was the dark shade of red dripping from his hand. Suho looked back up at him, frantic, “You can’t die. You can’t be dead, you have to survive, you have to live.”

Kris didn’t know what to say at first, he wasn’t sure what he could say. It wasn’t like he wanted to die, and now that he was dead, how could he reverse that from happening? Once a person died, there wasn’t anything else that someone could do for them. It was over.

“Luhan!” Suho’s loud voice startled Kris at first, then the water god’s voice trembled, “Luhan! Please, help him!”

But no answer came from the darkness around them, nothing at all. It was still so quiet, Kris turned back to the water god in front of him to see the being almost in tears. Something that made Kris’s heart ache at the sight.

“Don’t cry…” Kris reached up, wiping at the being’s tear streak. “Don’t cry for me.”

Suho’s hand clasped over Kris’s that was on his cheek, “You can’t die, I won’t let you die. You’re my calm, I can’t let you die.”

Kris couldn’t find the words to reply to that, he didn’t think his death reversible. Death didn’t work like that, did it? But in that moment, he wanted to do anything he could to stop the water god’s tears from falling. So he reached out and pulled the being to him, circling his arms around the being, and holding him close.

Suho fit right against his chest, his head just below his chin, and the water god wasted no time in returning the embrace, but his tears were falling even more now. Sobs leaving his lips.

“You can’t die…” then he pulled back, gasping, “Tao. Tao can heal you. He can reverse this.”

Kris’s eyebrow raised, wondering who this Tao person was, but figured it was one of the guardians that were at the temple… which they had killed. He didn’t even know if the guardian could’ve raised someone from the dead, but it didn’t seem likely now since they killed them.

 

Right now though, he just wanted to pull the water god back to him and hold him tight in his embrace. Whatever this world was that was death, it left him cold and scared, and when Suho had embraced him and held onto him, those feelings subsided.

“Luhan will get Tao to heal you… to reverse time for you. I can’t let you die, I can’t—ah!” Suho pulled back, pushing Kris away from him, suddenly appearing to be in pain. He grabbed his head, wincing hard, as if he were getting assaulted by something.

Kris reached out to him, but before he could touch the water god, the being started slowly disappearing. Almost as if he were turning into dust. He was still crying out in pain as he slowly faded into nothingness. Kris stared at the spot Suho was just in before looking around, the cold chill and fear was creeping back into his being.

“S-Suho?” He shook his head, instantly calling out into the darkness, “Luhan? Are you there, Luhan?”

 _“God, you’re so far away right now,”_ Luhan’s voice sounded so distant at the moment, almost as if it were muffled, _“Tao’s already working on reversing time to get the bullet out of your brain. Suho is in trouble right now… those other hunters, they have him, and I can’t tell what’s going on yet, but I know they’re hurting him. Kris, listen to me, I need you to stay away from any white light you see.”_

Kris looked around him but all he could see was the darkness still, complete blackness. There wasn’t any white light. But he agreed to nonetheless.

\--

“I can’t touch him, Luhan,” Lay stated once they’d appeared at the temple, the guardians that had been shot by the hunters earlier were alive and waiting for them. He could still feel the life in Xiumin and Chen, but Kris was long gone by now. “I can’t awaken his powers yet, I can’t let our bond cloud my ability to protect Suho.”

The shorter blonde nodded, checking over the bullet wounds, “It’s fine, Lay, I can act like a median between you two, just go ahead and phase out and I can borrow your ability. But you will have to heal the black haired hunter, like you, I can’t touch him either.”

Kyungsoo stayed by Kris’s side as he watched Lay’s being slowly fade, almost as if he were transparent. He looked over at Tao, “Can you save him, hyung?” He looked back down at Kris, holding onto his hand, tearing up.

Tao bent down, looked over the bullet wound of Kris’s, “I’ll see what I can do, Kyungsoo.”

He reached out, his hand hovering over the gaping hole in the back of Kris’s head where the bullet was lodged. A bright light glowed from Tao’s palm, his eyes were clouded over in a milky white. The bullet started to slowly exit the wound, the skin, brain matter, and blood slowly started disappearing, the skin closing back over as the bullet retreated towards Tao’s hand. All that was left afterwards was the skin sealed back together, looking like it hadn’t been pierced at all. The only sign of an injury was the drying blood caking to Kris’s hair.

“His body is healed now, but I need Luhan to pull his soul back to his body, he’s still in the middle grounds of life and death,” Tao commented, eyes returning to the normal brown, he reached out to the smaller male, comforting the sniffling boy. “But he’ll be fine, Kyungsoo.”

The cough from the blonde hunter caught their attention, Lay stepped away from the hunter and Luhan, phasing back into existence and stepping over towards the black haired hunter to heal him. Chen shakily pushed himself up from the floor of the temple, confused at his surroundings. He was still a little disorientated but was slowly regaining his barrens.

“You’re back at the temple, hunter,” Luhan stated, standing up to move over to Kris to start the process of bringing his soul back from the brink of death. “You’re lucky to have us around, or your leader would surely be dead, along with you and your partner if we hadn’t gotten to you in time.”

Chen could still taste the blood on the back of his tongue, but it didn’t hurt to breathe now. He coughed again, but the itch in his throat was clearing up. He looked around at the temple, eyes widening when he saw the four guardians that they had shot earlier. The brown haired one and red headed one watched over him while the other stayed by Kris’s side. Lay was by Xiumin’s side, a glow coming from his hand as he healed the bullet wound of Xiumin’s.

“H-How…?”

The red haired one’s eyes narrowed, “You shot us but you didn’t kill us. You can’t kill demigods with simple bullets.”

Chen hesitated at that, “Um… sorry about that…? I guess you can’t kill anyone with that one around,” he nodded towards Lay.

“Your leader is dead, but we can bring anyone back with the right help,” the red haired commented.

Before Chen could panic at that, Luhan was already speaking up, “He’s not dead anymore.”

As Lay helped Xiumin up, Kris was slowly regaining his breathing, his fingers twitched, his body slowly regaining the life that it had as the soul entered his body. As soon as his eyes opened, Kris quickly became aware of his surroundings, he pushed himself up, looking around wildly.

Luhan was about to retort against him moving too quickly, he knew it was a bit of a headrush when bringing one back from the brink of death, but Kris was already calling out, the hunter’s eyes darting around everywhere, but not finding who he was looking for, “Suho. Where’s Suho?”

Lay looked towards Luhan, Chen and Xiumin looked around themselves, finally noticing that they didn’t see a sleeping water god amongst them. Chen cursed, “Shit, did they get him?”

Luhan hesitated, but Kris quickly grabbed hold of him, gripping the collar of his robe, “He was there in the darkness with me, I heard you say they have him, you told me that they’re hurting him!”

The red haired god was about to step up to throw Kris off of Luhan, until the short blonde cupped Kris’s hands that were gripping his robe, “They do. After they shot your team and killed you, they took him, and while I still have a firm grasp on his mind with keeping his body unconscious, they are still tormenting his body.”

Kris’s eyes narrowed, Kyungsoo’s small cry at the words that Luhan spoke was barely registered by the leader, “Where _the_ _fuck_ are they? Where do they have him? We have to save him, _I_ have to save him!”

Luhan’s demeanor changed, his mind already reaching out to locate the men that had Suho, “I can guide you—”

“Kris, are you sure you’re up for that?” Chen questioned, interrupting them, but when Kris looked at him with a wild look in his eyes, he quickly added on, “They told me that they just brought you back from death, are you even in the right mind to go after him?”

Kris let go of Luhan’s robe, something in his eyes had changed, “I will do whatever it takes to find him, Chen. He was there with me, in the darkness of death or wherever the fuck I was. I have to save him, I have to!”

The brown haired guardian stepped up, “You tell me where to go, Luhan, and I can take him there.”

“There’s at least ten of them, not including the leader,” Luhan shook his head, “It’d be like walking into his death again, you need a plan if you’re going to try and attack them.”

Kris was already looking for his bag, in search for his guns, “Fine, come up with a plan and let’s go get him.”

Kyungsoo watched as Kris pulled out one of his pistols, checking the ammo inside before he turned to Lay and then to Luhan, “They won’t kill hyung, right?”

Luhan shook his head, “They want the bounty too, they need him alive,” he turned to the red haired guardian, “Chanyeol, are you up to helping these hunters? You’re the only one we have that has an active power that would be more effective than just bullets, if their shots miss.”

The red haired guardian grinned, glancing over the three hunters, “I am, and usually I would refuse to help someone that had shot me, but this is for Suho… Kai can teleport us there and they can open fire while I torch the ones they miss.”

Before Chen or Xiumin could reply to that, Kris was already cocking his pistol and grabbing the sawed off shotgun from his bag, “Works for me, let’s go.” He turned to Kyungsoo, hand coming up to rest on the kid’s shoulder, “I’ll bring your hyung back, Kyungsoo, just wait here for us.”

\--

Some of the hunters that had already had their turn with the water god were outside the tent, smoking and drinking while they listened to the sounds coming from the tent. All the while, the water god never showed any signs of waking or having felt any of the pain. It was an odd thing, the first time they’d had a victim that didn’t cry out for help or beg them to stop.

The leader pushed the flap of the tent out of the way, tucking himself back into his pants as he huffed in exhaustion, taking a seat near the tent, “If that was what the old man was getting every night, it’s like fucking a sack of potatoes. Just dead weight.”

“I can’t say I see the appeal in it. You’re right, it’s like fucking nothing but a warm body. The guy didn’t wake or anything. Kind of boring.”

Heath shrugged, “A lousy fuck, but at least he’ll be worth more after we collect the reward.”

\--

The brown haired god teleported the four to an area near where Luhan had directed him to go, and once the four had struck up a plan to attack the hunters, Kai would remain in the shadows, ready to snatch Suho up and get him back to Luhan and Lay for healing before retrieving the four.

Chen was quick to start looking around at the trees, deciding on the best one for a good view of the tent that lay out in the clearing ahead, and started climbing up it. Xiumin loaded his gun up with full ammo, while Kris rechecked every weapon on him, all ready and loaded. Chanyeol watched the two before turning his attention back to the area where the hunters were gathered around, one of them came out of the tent, shirt hanging open and his pants undone. A spark of fire flickered on his fingertips.

“Why is it that you humans think nothing of assaulting another person?” Chanyeol muttered, upper lip raised in an almost snarl.

Kris looked up at that, “What?” He turned towards where Chanyeol was looking, eyes widening when he saw the hunter, he saw red. “ _What the fuck_.”

Chanyeol turned to him, eyes slightly widening he caught the shadows of two large wings flaring up behind the black haired man. It wasn’t visible to the other two hunters, but Chanyeol could see the wings, it didn’t seem like it was noticed by the hunter either.

 _“Luhan?”_ He called mentally, _“What is he?”_

 _“He’s Suho’s other half, he’s also the child of Hades,”_ Luhan replied, _“Like I’ve told Lay, Suho is in the best hands with that man.”_

_“That’s why he was so upset when you revived him?”_

_“Suho was with him in the darkness, he visited the hunter in his sleep, they’ve already formed a bond mentally. If Suho were to awaken, then the hunter’s power would awaken.”_

Chanyeol was about to reply to that but Kris was already cocking his gun and taking aim, “Let’s go.”

After that, Chanyeol stepped out of the shadows, watching the two black haired hunters charging towards the group of hunters, guns blazing and the bodies dropping. There were shots coming overhead from the blonde hunter in the trees, and as the bodies fell, Chanyeol snapped his fingers, setting their bodies aflame.

Since they had practically ambushed the hunters, hardly any of them had any weapons to defend themselves, so it was almost easy-pickings when it came to taking down all of them. Xiumin took care of all the hunters outside of the tent, as Kris threw open the flap of the tent, and upon the sight inside, he didn’t stop until he’d unloaded every bullet in his gun into the skull of the hunter that had a hold on the water god.

He only stopped when the loud ringing of the bullets turning into nothing but clicks after the magazine had emptied. The mess of the hunter in front of him was barely recognizable as a person anymore. He dropped his gun, eyes still flared up but slowly losing their steam with each shaky breath he took, his gaze lowering to the naked body of the water god’s, he was covered in a mess of what those hunters did to him, his hips were bruising from the hard grip, his hair was messed up, the remains of the hunters’ essence around his mouth and between his legs.

Kris wanted to vomit at the sight, but instead, he lowered himself to his knees, pulling the water god up into his embrace, looking over Suho’s body, the flowers were still adorning his body but they looked like they were fading away.

“Kris?” Xiumin called, opening the flap of the tent, eyes widening at the sight of the hunter that laid dead behind them, before lowering to take in the condition of the water god. “Shit, those bastards… they… is he… is he okay?”

“He’s not awake, I don’t think he woke up at all since they took him… call that teleporter, let’s get him to the healer,” Kris commanded, to which Xiumin quickly left the tent again, calling for the teleporter.

Chanyeol entered the tent, “I’ve torched the hunters that were still living. According to Luhan, the man’s son, your employer’s son, was among the ones I set on fire. You have no more worries of being ambushed any these hunters.”

Kris looked up at him, “Thank you.”

“Are you still going to take him back to that old man now?” Chanyeol asked, eying the way that the hunter held onto Suho, “Now that you’ve seen what we witnessed when we rescued him from that old man, are you still going to take him back to that?”


End file.
